|
|
|
David Utter
(Penny Weaver) |
|
|
Two lawyers with close ties to the Center were recognized this spring with top awards from their respective bar associations. The Louisiana Bar Foundation named David Utter, director of the Center-supported Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana (JJPL) the 2003 Distinguished Attorney, and the San Diego County Bar Association selected Center board of directors chairman James E. McElroy as its Outstanding Attorney of the Year.
Starting with a staff of four and building to a staff of 16 in just six years, Utter and JJPL have driven Louisiana's debate for juvenile justice reform. He and his staff have defined advocacy in broad terms, utilizing class action litigation in federal court, individual representation on behalf of children in juvenile court, media advocacy, legislative education and grassroots efforts to raise public awareness and change public policy.
Last year, Utter's work culminated with the passage of the Juvenile Justice Reform Act of 2003, legislation that is nationally recognized as the most progressive and comprehensive juvenile justice legislation to pass any state in years.
The Center's legal staff is attempting to replicate his success with their own juvenile justice efforts in Mississippi (see Suit Seeks Access for Imprisoned Youth).
JJPL opened its doors in New Orleans in January 1998 after the Center awarded it a $145,000 grant. The Center has continued its financial support of JJPL's work, and its attorneys have collaborated with Utter and his staff on litigation strategies.
Utter is a graduate of Emory University and the University of Florida Law School. He has spent his entire legal career in the public interest field, representing indigent individuals throughout the South. In 1993, he helped open the Louisiana Crisis Assistance Center to address the predicament of indigent persons facing the death penalty.
Utter received his honor at the Louisiana Bar Foundation's 18th annual Fellows dinner on April 16 in New Orleans.
 |
|
|
James McElroy
(contributed) |
|
|
The San Diego Bar Association recognized Jim McElroy for his service work during its Law Week luncheon on May 7. "One of the things they considered, of course, was my work with the Center," he said.
A graduate of the University of San Diego law school, McElroy has been in practice for 25 years. He was a volunteer member of the Center's legal team that successfully sued White Aryan Resistance leader Tom Metzger for encouraging racist Skinheads to murder an Ethiopian student in Portland in 1988.
In 1990, a jury ordered Metzger, his son John, the WAR organization and two of its Skinhead followers to pay $12.5 million to the family of Mulugeta Seraw. McElroy has been responsible for seeing that proceeds from Metzger and his group are collected and turned over to Seraw's family.
In 2000, he successfully represented a black Camp Pendleton Marine who was brutally beaten and left a quadriplegic by white supremacists, winning a $1.2 million settlement agreement for him. He has worked with Planned Parenthood and other family planning clinics to protect patients, staff and doctors from violence.
In 1996, McElroy joined the Center's board of directors, and last year he became its chairman.
SPLC Report
June 2004
|
