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WASHINGTON
LAWYERS’ COMMITTEE TO HONOR
NAACP, JOHN PAYTON, STUART LAND AT 36TH ANNUAL
BRANTON AWARDS
Washington,
D.C. - Attorneys John A. Payton, Jr. and Stuart
J. Land, and the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People will be honored tomorrow at the 36th
Annual Wiley A. Branton Awards Luncheon of the Washington
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.
The luncheon, with an expected near record attendance
of over 850, will be held at The Grand Hyatt Washington
Hotel, Independence Ballroom, from 12:00 noon – 2:00 pm.
The
Committee will award the 2004 Wiley A. Branton Award
to Mr. Payton and Mr. Land for their lifetime commitment
to civil rights, and present the 2004 Alfred McKenzie
Award to the NAACP for the organization’s nearly 100-year
record of dedication and commitment to equal justice.
Fifteen
law firms will receive Outstanding Achievement Awards
for their civil rights work with the Committee over
the past year in the areas of Equal Employment Opportunity
(Shearman & Sterling LLP; Steptoe & Johnson
LLP), Fair Housing (Jenner & Block LLP; Tycko, Zavareei
& Spiva LLP), Public Accommodations (Crowell &
Moring LLP; Covington & Burling; Piper Rudnick LLP;
Shaw Pittman LLP; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher &
Flom LLP; Wiggins, Childs, Quinn & Pantazis, P.C.;
Hogan & Hartson LLP), Disability Rights (Howrey
Simon Arnold & White, LLP), Immigrant and Refugee
Rights (Holland & Knight LLP;
Williams & Connolly LLP); and Special Programs (Wilmer,
Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP) for an important
victory challenging marketing and distribution practices
of gun manufacturers. Two firms (Akin Gump Strauss
Hauer & Feld LLP; Patton Boggs LLP) will receive
the Vincent E. Reed Award for their leadership and support
for the Committee’s D.C. Public School/Law Firm Partnership
Program.
The
Washington Lawyers’ Committee was established in 1968
to provide pro bono legal services to address
discrimination and entrenched poverty in the Washington,
D.C. community. Since its founding, the Committee has
handled thousands of cases on behalf of individuals
and groups in the areas of equal employment opportunity,
fair housing, public accommodations, public education,
immigrant and refugee rights, and disability rights.
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