GN summer fall09 Digital.indd - National Lawyers Guild

Convention PreviewHonoree informationNLG Mass Defense Committee2009 Law for the People AwardIt is important to recognize the impactof the masses that stopped the 1999WTO Ministerial. Not just that peopletook to the streets in such large numbers,but that they were effective whenthey did so. They took to the streets andblocked the ability of the delegates toreach the meeting site emboldened bythe knowledge that legal observers andattorneys would be there to defend theirrights to take such action.In the ten years since “The Battlein Seattle,” all over the country protestersand marchers have known that therewould be legal observers and attorneysfor them. Because the NLG Mass DefenseCommittee epitomizes this work,the Guild believes it is appropriate tohonor them with the Law for the PeopleAward on the 10th anniversary of theprotests that drew worldwide attentionto the power of the masses.G. Flint Taylor, Jr.2009 Ernie Goodman AwardFlint, a founding partner of thePeople’s Law Office in Chicago, haslitigated several landmark cases includingthat of Black Panther member FredHampton and a North Carolina caseagainst the Ku Klux Klan and Nazis.He set a record when he secured a $36million settlement in the case of thewrongfully-convicted Ford HeightsFour, and he has taken on cases of policemisconduct involving city and stateofficials.More recently, Flint is responsiblefor the exoneration of numerousinmates, some of whom were on deathrow; in one prominent case that hasspanned decades he proved that severalprisoners had confessed only after beingtortured.Pat Levasseur2009 Legal Worker AwardA mainstay of the Lynne StewartDefense Committee, Pat organizedscores of meetings with activists andattorneys regarding the political andlegal implications of the trial. She wasthe main contact between Stewart,the media and others, and organizedfundraisers and educational materialsto keep attention on the case. Nevermotivated by the limelight, Pat works asa legal worker for NLG attorneys GeoffreyStewart, Susan Tipograph, MitchellDinnerstein and others and continuesto educate the public about politicalprisoners and government injustices.Extraordinarily committed and compassionate,she cares deeply not just aboutthe political issues but also the peoplesurrounding her.Richard Falk to Open Convention as2009 Keynote SpeakerRICHARD FALK is Albert G. Milbank Professor Emeritus of InternationalLaw at Princeton University and Visiting DistinguishedProfessor in Global and International Studies at the Universityof California, Santa Barbara. His most recent books are TheCosts of War: International Law, the UN, and World Order afterIraq (2008) and Achieving Human Rights (2009). In 2001 heserved on a three-person Human Rights Inquiry Commission forthe Palestine Territories that was appointed by the United Nations, andpreviously, on the Independent International Commission on Kosovo.On March 26, 2008, the United Nations Human Rights Council appointedFalk to a six-year term as a United Nations Special Rapporteuron “the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupiedsince 1967.” The author or coauthor of numerous books, he serves asChair of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s Board of Directors andas honorary vice president of the American Society of InternationalLaw. Falk also acted as counsel to Ethiopia and Liberia in the SouthwestAfrica Case before the International Court of Justice. He receivedhis B.S. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, L.L.B.from Yale Law School, and J.S.D. from Harvard University. □Richard Falk, Professor at Princeton Universityand 2009 Keynote Speaker. Photo © 2003Richard Lord.▪ 19 ▪