Benefit Awards Dinner
Past Dinners
2022
2022 honorees were:
- Pamela Rosado, Chief Claims Officer and General Counsel, AXA XL
- Helen Hershkoff, Herbert M. and Svetlana Wachtell Professor of Constitutional Law and Civil Liberties; Co-Director, Arthur Garfield Hays Civil Liberties Program New York University School of Law
- National Mobilization Against Sweatshops (NMASS)
- Flushing Workers Center
- Chinese Staff and Workers’ Association (CSWA)
2022 emcee was:
- Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, Senior Minister for Public Theology and Transformation Middle Collegiate Church
2021
2021 honorees were:
- Black Love Resists in the Rust
- Jalonda Hill, Fair Fine and Fees Coordinator
- Cynthia Bookhart Adams, Managing Director, Legal & Compliance at Jefferies
2021 emcee was:
- Sharon Epperson, CNBC Senior Personal Finance Correspondent
2020
2020 honorees were:
- Sarah Dodds-Brown, Executive Vice President and Managing Counsel American Express
- Martha Morgan
- Henry Sanders
- Faya Rose Touré
2019
2019 honorees were:
- Sandra Leung, Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
- Migrant Justice/Justicia Migrante
- Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, LLP
2018
2018 honorees were:
- Stacey Friedman, Executive Vice President and General Counsel
JP Morgan Chase & Co. - Saru Jayaraman, Co-Founder and President, Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) United & ROC Action, Director of the Food Labor Research Center at UC Berkeley
- Gina Mannix, Deputy Director, National Center for Law and Economic Justice, Inc.
2018 emcee was:
- Jeffrey Toobin, Author and Legal Analyst for CNN and The New Yorker
2017
Richard Buery, Eva Haller, Mailini Moorthy, Steve Edwards, Nisha Agarwal, Marc Cohan, Doug Curtis
2017 honorees were:
- Malini Moorthy, Head of Global Litigation, Bayer
- Nisha Agarwal, Commissioner, New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs
- Steven M. Edwards, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP
2017 emcee was:
- Douglas F. Curtis, Vice Chair, NCLEJ Board of Directors
2016
Henry Freedman, Jennifer Selendy, Marc Cohan, Kenneth Feinberg, Brooke Richie-Babbage, Jeffrey Shinder, Hon. Laura Safer Espinoza, and Caitlin Halligan
2016 honorees were:
- Kenneth R. Feinberg, Former Administrator of the September 11 and Boston Marathon Victim Compensation Funds
- Brooke Richie-Babbage, Founder and Executive Director Resilience Advocacy Project
- Constantine Cannon LLP, Pro Bono Leadership Award
2016 emcee was:
- Caitlin J. Halligan, Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
2015
Gerald Hassell and Kevin McCarthy ( left image ). Camille Holmes and Henry Freedman ( left image ).
2015 honorees were:
- J. Kevin McCarthy, Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel, BNY Mellon
- Camille D. Holmes, Director, Leadership & Racial Equity, National Legal Aid & Defender Association
2015 emcee was:
- Jeffrey Toobin, author and legal analyst, CNN and The New Yorker
2014
2014 honorees were:
- Henry A. Freedman, Executive Director, National Center for Law and Economic Justice
- Stephen M. Cutler, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
2014 emcee was:
- Jeffrey Toobin, author and legal analyst, CNN and The New Yorker
2013
2013 honorees were:
- Marc Lawrence-Apfelbaum, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Time Warner Cable Inc.
- Nan Aron, President, Alliance for Justice
- Neal Katyal, Partner, Hogan Lovells US LLP, Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of Law, Georgetown University, former Acting Solicitor General of the United States
2013 emcee was:
- Caitlin Halligan, attorney
2012
2012 honorees were:
- Robert Greenstein, Founder and President, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
- Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, Pro Bono Leadership Award
- Michele Coleman Mayes, Executive Vice President and General Counsel,Allstate Insurance Company
- Kathleen Sebelius (not pictured), Secretary, United States Department of Health and Human Services
2012 emcee was:
- Jeffrey Toobin, author and legal analyst
2011
2011 honorees were:
- Paul Dodyk, Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore (retired) and former NCLEJ Board Chair
- Bob Herbert, Award-winning Columnist
- Elpidio (PD) Villarreal, Senior Vice President, Global Litigation, GlaxoSmithKline
Paul M. Dodyk Fellowship Video
2010
2010 honorees were:
- Amy W. Schulman, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Pfizer Inc
- Mark Greenberg, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families
- NCLEJ’s Partners in Maryland Court Victory: Homeless Persons Representation Project, Public Justice Center, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
2010 emcee was:
- Jeff Johnson of BET
2009
2009 honorees were:
- Michael D. Fricklas, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary, Viacom Inc.
- John DeWitt Gregory, Sidney and Walter Siben Distinguished Professor of Family Law, Hofstra University School of Law
- Sandra Youdelman, Executive Director, Community Voices Heard
2009 emcee was:
- Jeff Johnson of BET
2008
2008 honorees were:
- Richard Cotton, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, NBCUniversal
- Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark, New Jersey
- Gordon Bonnyman, Jr., Executive Director, Tennessee Justice Center
- Jill Shinn, Northeast Missouri Clients Council for Human Needs
2008 emcee was:
- Pete Williams of NBC News
2007
2007 honorees were:
- Congressman Charles Rangel, Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee
- Cynthia Nixon, Award-winning actress and education advocate
- James Lipscomb, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, MetLife, Inc.
- Jillynn Stevens, Director of Policy, Advocacy and Research, Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies
Reception for Congressman Charles Rangel
Due to legislative commitments, Congressman Rangel couldn’t be present at the Dinner. He received the James Corman Award, honoring the late Congressman, NCLEJ Board member, and advocate for the poor, from Wendell Primus, Senior Policy Advisor to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, at a separate reception on May 31 hosted by Simpson Thacher and Bartlett.
2006
Henry Freedman, George Soros, Joseph Stiglitz, Sheryl Sandberg, Nell Hahn, Doug Curtis and John Hall
2006 honorees were:
- Joseph Stiglitz, 2001 Nobel Laureate in economics, former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, former Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank, and author (award was presented by George Soros)
- Teresa Benitez-Thompson, Adoption Recruitment Specialist, former Miss Nevada, founder and former President of the Nevada Empowered Women’s Project
- Nell Hahn, Director of Systems Advocacy and Litigation at the Advocacy Center in Louisiana
- Google, Inc., accepted by Sheryl Sandberg, Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations
2005
2005 honorees were:
- Benjamin W. Heineman, Jr., Senior Vice President for Law and Public Service at GE
- Paul Krugman, Professor of Economics and International Affairs, Princeton University; op-ed columnist, The New York Times
- Deval Patrick, former Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Justice; former VP and General Counsel at Texaco and Coca-Cola (now former Governor of Massachusetts)
- Memorial Tribute to John H. Pickering, Founding Partner of Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale and Dorr LLP
2004
2004 honorees were:
- Honorable Edward M. Kennedy, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts
- Esther F. Lardent, President and CEO of the ProBono Institute at Georgetown University
- Donna M. Wilson, Regional President, Community and External Affairs Division, Washington Mutual
2003
2003 honorees were:
- Barbara Ehrenreich, noted author, journalist and social commentator
- Stephen L. Kass, Esq., Partner, Carter Ledyard and Milburn, LLP; former Chair of the WLC Board
- Megan E. McLaughlin, former CEO of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies
- Shirley S. Peoples, lifelong welfare rights activist
2000
2000 honorees were:
- H. Carl McCall, Comptroller, State of New York
- Richard Blum, Legal Aid Society
- Gail Aska, Community Voices Heard
- Arthur Cheliotes and William Henning, Communication Workers of America Local 1180
- Dewey Ballantine LLP
- Davis Polk & Wardwell
