2004 Exemplar Award Honoree

Benjamin W. Heineman, Jr. has set the benchmark throughout his exceptional career in his superlative legal practice, extraordinary leadership and life-long commitment to public service, diversity and the principle of justice for all. Prior to assuming his current position of senior vice president for law and public affairs at General Electric Company, Heineman served for 17 years as the GE general counsel. Under his leadership, the GE legal department has come to be recognized around the world for its excellence, and Heineman is credited for effecting a transformation of the role of inside counsel across corporate America.

His accomplishments, however, are not limited to the area of corporate law. Heineman’s impressive résumé includes serving as the managing partner in Sidley Austin’s Washington office; assistant secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare; staff attorney at the Center for Law and Social Policy; and law clerk to Associate Justice Potter Stewart of the U.S. Supreme Court. He is also the author of The Politics of the Powerless, a pioneering study of race relations in Britain.

As wide as his career has ranged, one thing remains constant: Heineman’s unwavering aspiration to serve the broad interests of the bar and its communities. Heineman has received numerous recognitions for his efforts in advancing the cause of diversity in corporate law and for his achievements in the areas of community relations and public service. With Heineman’s strong support, guidance and commitment to the principle of equal justice, GE and other members of the Corporate Bar Association in the Connecticut and New York area founded The Pro Bono Partnership in 1997. The Partnership is a coordination and resource center to help corporate counsel offer free legal services to nonprofit organizations. To date, over 700 corporate counsel have provided legal services through The Partnership for over 600 nonprofit organizations on over 1,650 different legal matters, and the program is considered the model for pro bono activities by inside counsel. Heineman is an inspiration to not only his fellow corporate counsel but also to the entire legal profession. For his exemplary dedication to equality, leadership, community and justice, NLADA proudly presents the 2004 NLADA Exemplar Award to Benjamin W. Heineman, Jr.

2004 Kutak-Dodds Prize Winners

William J. Brennan, Jr., has devoted his entire 35-year legal career to representing low-income clients against numerous injustices. For the last 15 years, he has been the director of the Atlanta Legal Aid Society’s Home Defense Program, which provides legal representation and referrals to largely low-income and elderly homeowners and home buyers who are victims of a variety of home equity and purchase schemes, including predatory mortgage lending and foreclosure assistance fraud. Brennan has become a renown leading advocate against predatory lending and is credited for bringing national attention to the issue. He recognized a pattern in lending schemes designed to induce foreclosures, targeting poor, elderly, African-American people, and developed a “multi-faceted advocacy” approach of litigation, media exposure, legislation and community education not only to save his clients’ homes but also to expose the abusive practice.

In the early 1990s, Brennan led litigation efforts against Fleet Finance Co. Brennan’s battles with Fleet captured months of headlines around the country, spawned Congressional hearings and changed forever the common view of consumer lending. After two years of litigation, Brennan successfully negotiated a settlement, resulting in millions of dollars for approximately 4000 clients. Brennan’s media outreach campaign in the meantime also led to an investigation of Fleet by the Georgia Attorney General’s office, which brought about an unprecedented $115 million settlement against the company affecting almost 20,000 homeowners. These stories were reported on CBS’s 60 Minutes and NBC Nightly News, among others, and caught the attention of the U.S. Congress. In 1994, after several hearings at which Brennan’s clients testified, Congress passed the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act, which requires special disclosures for high-cost mortgage loans and prohibits certain abusive terms in the loans.

Brennan has transformed the national public debate over predatory lending, brought justice to thousands of low-income homeowners and inspired private lawyers and legal services advocates around the country to take up the challenge of difficult predatory lending litigation. His exceptional efforts are in large part the very reason that the word “predatory lending” is in the public vocabulary today. For his tireless advocacy and steadfast dedication to achieving justice for all, the Robert J. Kutak Foundation and NLADA proudly present the 2004 Kutak-Dodds Prize to William J. Brennan, Jr.

Roberto Nájera has dedicated his life’s work to championing the plight of the underdog. The fifth of six children of a Mexican field worker, Nájera grew up in poverty. Against the advice of his high school counselor who encouraged him and other minority students to seek vocational jobs, he enrolled at University of California at Santa Cruz and eventually obtained a law degree from Harvard University. Nájera’s desire to give back led to his return to California in 1983 to begin his legal services career with La Raza Centro Legal. In 1989, he went to work for the Office of the Public Defender for Contra Costa County, where he has been representing low-income adults and minors primarily in felony cases.

One of the defining moments of Nájera’s legal career came in 2003 when he argued and won a case in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Stogner v. California. In 1998, Nájera was assigned a case in which his client was arrested and charged with molesting two minors between 1955 and 1973. When his client’s alleged offenses occurred, the statute of limitations was three years. However, the prosecutors used a 1994 California law that permitted filing of charges within a year of the report regardless of when the crime allegedly occurred. Recognizing that his client’s constitutional right under the ex post facto clause was violated, Nájera filed a petition challenging the state law through the California court system, which was denied. Undeterred by the state court’s decision, he took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court and obtained a ruling that overturned the California law.

Nájera’s victory is a tremendous accomplishment not only because it is extremely rare for a deputy public defender to take a case from the trial level and handle it through the entire appellate process, all while continuing to carry a full caseload, but also because he was diagnosed with colon cancer just two months prior to his scheduled appearance before the Supreme Court. He underwent surgery and chemotherapy and was still fully prepared to present his argument. His efforts were recognized in 2003 when he won the President’s Award from the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, and he was named one of the top lawyers in California by the California Lawyers Magazine. For his enduring spirit and commitment to the principle of equality under the law, the Robert J. Kutak Foundation and NLADA proudly present the 2004 Kutak-Dodds Prize to Roberto Nájera.