Video highlights: Lawyers mobilize on Capitol Hill to fight for legal aid

Lawyers from all 50 states came to the nation’s capital to defend Legal Services Corporation against proposed funding cuts during the American Bar Association’s annual ABA Day in Washington April 25-26.

• The ABA also presented four members of Congress with its annual Congressional Justice Award, acknowledging their leadership on issues critically important to the legal profession. This year’s honorees are:  
• Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii
• Rep. Joe Kennedy of Massachusetts
• Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama
• Rep. Mac Thornberry of Texas

The association also presented the ABA Grassroots Advocacy Awards to:

• Edwin A. Harnden, who has spent two decades advocating for increased access to legal aid for Oregonians. A past Bar president, he has worked to encourage lawyers to support the Campaign for Equal Justice and has worked extensively with political and community leaders to address funding shortfalls and seek long-term solutions
  
  
• Kids in Need of Defense, which advocates for vital services that help unaccompanied children in the United States, including facilitating pro bono representation for deportation proceedings. It has also increased awareness among policymakers and the public about the rights and needs of unaccompanied immigrant and refugee children, using social media and creating a Children’s Speaker’s Bureau.