PHILADELPHIA, PA – LAWFUEL – The Law News Wire – The American Bar Association’s Government and Public Sector Lawyers Division has announced that it will honor Community Legal Services (CLS) of Philadelphia with the prestigious 2007 Hodson Award for Public Service. Catherine C. Carr, Esq., Executive Director of Community Legal Services, will accept the Award at the American Bar Association’s Annual Meeting in San Francisco on Friday, August 10, 2007.
Jane Leslie Dalton, Esq., Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association, nominated Community Legal Services for the Hodson Award in recognition of its outstanding service providing civil (non-criminal) legal assistance to some 17,000 low-income Philadelphians annually. Explaining the nomination, Dalton wrote, “Extraordinary results are woven into the very fabric of CLS. Its many successful lawyering initiatives on behalf of the poor have ensured its recognition as a national leader in the civil legal aid community. Alan Houseman, of the Center for Law and Social Policy, speaks for many when he describes CLS as the ‘gold standard’ by which civil legal aid programs should be judged.”
Community Legal Services Executive Director Catherine Carr said, “I hope that winning the prestigious Hodson Award will make all of the wonderful, creative and hardworking staff at CLS take a step back to recognize and own our success, and move forward with renewed strength and commitment. Of course we could never do all we do without the many people who support our work. Let us all celebrate our achievement!”
The Hodson Award is named in honor of the distinguished public service career of the late Major General Kenneth J. Hodson, a former Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army, and a founding member of the American Bar Association’s Government and Public Sector Lawyers Division. The Award recognizes sustained, outstanding performance or a specific and extraordinary service by a government or public sector law office. Past Hodson Award winners include the San Diego Public Defender’s Office; the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Law Department; and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office Juvenile Offender Intervention Network (J.O.I.N.).
