For Immediate Release Contact: Deborah E. Dubois (202) 452-0620, ext. 223 d.dubois@nlada.org

NLADA DIRECTOR OF RACIAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE, CAMILLE HOLMES WOOD, HONORED WITH EQUAL JUSTICE SOCIETY’S RACE CONSICOUSNESS IN THE LAW AWARD

WASHINGTON, DC, December 8, 2009 — On December 4, the Equal Justice Society honored Camille Holmes Wood, National Legal Aid & Defender Association’s (NLADA) director of the Racial Justice Initiative, with the Race Consciousness in the Law Award. The Equal Justice Society, a national strategy group heightening consciousness on race in the law and popular discourse, presented this award at its 2009 Annual Gala, "Celebrating Our Connections".

The Race Consciousness in the Law Award recognizes Wood's efforts to expand the capacity and commitment of public defense, civil legal aid and client advocates to embrace race equity as one of the core strategies in their work. Her efforts at the national, regional and local levels advance problem solving strategies for creating sustainable change in low-income and marginalized communities.

Ms. Wood leads NLADA’s efforts in providing legal advocates and client leaders with the knowledge, skills, abilities and tools to work together for racial justice. In her work, she emphasizes learning that promotes the importance of race equity and racial justice advocacy in the legal services community, and advances effective community lawyering and race equity advocacy by educating advocates and leaders on the importance of effective collaboration and partnership with low-income community leaders.

“Camille Holmes Wood has been a strong advocate and a strong voice in advancing the critical work of race equity. Her work in creating safe spaces for discussions of race, power and difference has led directly to the emergence and advancement of advocates committed to achieving racial equity,” said Jo-Ann Wallace, president and CEO of NLADA. “NLADA proudly congratulates Camille Holmes Wood on receiving this prestigious award and commends her critical work around racial justice for front-line attorneys and other equal justice advocates.” Wood came to NLADA from the Center for Law and Social Policy where she worked as a senior staff attorney and co-director for the Project for the Future of Equal Justice. She formerly served as executive director of the Southern Africa Legal Services and Legal Education Project, an attorney at the D.C. law firm of Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale & Dorr and a law clerk for the Honorable Damon J. Keith on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. She is a founding member of the Jamestown Project, a diverse action-oriented think tank of new leaders who reach across boundaries and generations to make democracy real. She is a past-president of the board of directors of the Washington Council of Lawyers, a voluntary bar association promoting pro bono and public interest law in the District of Columbia. Wood currently serves on the board of directors of the Poverty and Race Research Action Council. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School.

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The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA), founded in 1911, is the oldest and largest national, nonprofit membership organization devoting all of its resources to advocating equal access to justice for all Americans. NLADA champions effective legal assistance for people who cannot afford counsel, serves as a collective voice for both civil legal services and public defense services throughout the nation and provides a wide range of services and benefits to its individual and organizational members.