[District of Columbia, Jan. 26, 2015] — The District of Columbia Bar Foundation (DCBF) has selected Kathryn M. Doan, Executive Director of the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition, as the recipient of the 2015 Jerrold Scoutt Prize.
The prize is awarded annually to an attorney who has worked for a significant portion of his or her career at a nonprofit organization providing direct hands-on legal services to the needy in the District of Columbia, has demonstrated compassionate concern for his or her clients, and has exhibited a high degree of skill on their behalf.
Ms. Doan has been a member of the DC legal services community for nearly 25 years. Since 2008, she has served as the CAIR Coalition’s Executive Director. She served as a staff attorney, legal director and then deputy director of the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) from 1995 to 2007, and as a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society of DC from 1991 to 1995. She received her J.D. from the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University of America and her undergraduate degree from Cornell University.
In her nomination of Ms. Doan on behalf of the CAIR Coalition’s staff, board of directors and consultants, Legal Director Heidi Altman noted, “All of us who care about protecting basic human rights and ensuring that everyone is treated with dignity and respect owe Kathy our sincere thanks for her many years of dedicated service to the DC community.”
The Scoutt Prize, endowed by the Washington, DC, firm of Zuckert, Scoutt & Rasenberger, LLP, is named in honor of Jerrold Scoutt, Jr., a founding partner of the firm, in recognition of Mr. Scoutt’s and the firm’s long-term support of legal services. The DC Bar Foundation’s Scoutt Prize Committee is chaired by DCBF Advisory Committee Member Fred T. Goldberg of Skadden, Arps, Meagher & Flom LLP.
The DC Bar Foundation will present the 2015 Jerrold Scoutt Prize during the DC Bar’s Judicial Reception on Friday, April 17, 2015.
The DC Bar Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization established in 1977, is the largest funder of civil legal services in the District. The Bar Foundation’s mission is to fund, support, and improve legal representation of the poor, vulnerable, and otherwise disadvantaged in the District of Columbia, and it is committed to the vision that residents of the District have equal access to justice, regardless of income. The Foundation provides grants and training and technical assistance to local non-profit legal services organizations and awards loans to DC poverty lawyers to help with their educational debt.
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