The Government and Public Sector Lawyers Division's annual awards program recognizes the extraordinary achievements of government lawyers and informs the general public about their outstanding work and the positive impact they make to our communities.
Dorsey Award
The Dorsey Award honors an outstanding public defender or legal aid lawyer. The Award was named for the late Charles H. Dorsey, Jr., long-time Executive Director of Maryland's Legal Aid Bureau, Inc. and a champion of the poor and underprivileged.
Hodson Award
The Hodson Award recognizes sustained outstanding service or a specific extraordinary accomplishment by a government or public sector law office. (This is not an award for an individual). The 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.
Nelson Award
The Nelson Award recognizes outstanding contributions to the ABA by an individual government or public sector lawyer. The Award was established as a tribute to the late L. Clair Nelson, who contributed his loyalty, time and extraordinary talent to the ABA.
The Dorsey Award winner is Amrutha Jindal, Executive Director, Lone Star Defenders. In 2021, under Operation Lone Star, the State of Texas executed memoranda of understanding with over 100 ranchers, allowing the Texas Department of Public Safety to arrest immigrants, largely for criminal trespass. This resulted in an enormous increase in the number of criminal defendants needing representation in rural counties completely unequipped for the massive caseload increase. Amrutha Jindal stepped up and launched Lone Star Defenders, swiftly creating an 80-attorney public defender system that guaranteed quality representation for thousands.
New York City’s Asylum Application Help Center (AAHC), the winner of the Hodson Award, is a pro se legal clinic for asylum seekers in shelters. The AAHC was founded in June 2023 to assist with the filing of asylum applications, as many asylum seekers in shelters were at risk of missing the critical one-year filing deadline. The AAHC has expanded to five locations in two boroughs, and now provides support for asylum, temporary protected status (TPS), and work authorization applications. Through an innovative partnership model bringing together law firms, corporations, universities, non-profits, and every level of government, the AAHC has assisted thousands of asylum seekers.
Nelson Award recipient, Sylloris Lampkin, Attorney Advisor, U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, has served in numerous ABA positions that have elevated the voice of public lawyers. As GPSLD’s Law Student Outreach Committee Chair Lampkin organized presentations at numerous law schools providing timely information to students interested in public service careers. Lampkin also helped to educate public lawyers across the country by participating in GPSLD podcasts and CLE webinars. In addition, Lampkin represented public lawyers in ABA-wide entities including serving as Vice-Chair of the Housing and Urban Development Committee of the Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice, as a member of the ABA’s Forum on Affordable Housing, and as a liaison to the ABA’s Council for Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Education Pipeline.
The Government and Public Sector Lawyers Division’s National Awards are designed to recognize the extraordinary achievements of government lawyers and to inform the general public about the outstanding work performed and the positive impact made by our nation’s public lawyers. Winners are selected on the basis of their professional accomplishments and their role in ensuring access to justice.