The LAAC Awards of Merit are the California legal services community’s opportunity to recognize the importance of legal services and to particularly honor a few of the many who have made contributions to the field during the past year. More about the Awards of Merit
The 2015 Awards of Merit were presented on June 10, 2015 at the Pathways to Justice Conference in Los Angeles.
We presented eight awards in the following categories:
- Legal Services Attorney
- Non-Attorney Staff (Paralegal, Community Worker, Support Staff)
- Individual Volunteer or Board Member for a legal services program
- Client of a legal services program that has engaged in advocacy or assistance to the program
- Staff of a trial or appellate court (Joint Award with the California Commission on Access to Justice)
In presenting the Awards of Merit, the LAAC Recognition Committee looked for outstanding contributions in areas such as:
- Commitment to the delivery of legal services to the poor
- Litigation of cases with significant impact to legal services clients
- Work with a client community that increased access to legal services
- Legislative work that resulted ion improved legal services
- Advocacy efforts that helped meet the needs of those traditionally under-represented in our legal system
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Following are the honorees.
Joint Award of Merit with California Commission on Access to Justice
Gary Slossberg, Superior Court of California, County of El Dorado
Attorneys
Joanna Shalleck-Klein, Legal Aid of Marin
James Grow, National Housing Law Project
Non-Attorney Staff
Ana Flores, Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center
Serina Rankins, East Bay Community Law Center
Clients
Francisca and Elias Perez, Bet Tzedek
Javanni Munguia-Brown, Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto
Volunteer
Mirissa McMurray, Legal Aid Society of San Mateo