PRESS RELEASE: Jacqueline Rishty of Catholic Charities to Receive DC Bar Foundation's 2026 Scoutt Prize

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MEDIA CONTACT: Tanya Weinberg

July 28, 2026 weinberg@DCBarFoundation.org

WASHINGTON — The DC Bar Foundation has selected Jacqueline Rishty as the 2026 Jerrold Scoutt Prize awardee in recognition of her 35 years of deeply committed legal advocacy for asylum seekers and other immigrants with low income who face urgent legal challenges.

For decades, Rishty, currently director of Immigration Legal Services at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington, has provided access to high-quality legal services for immigrant survivors of torture, trauma, and crime—as well as DC-area residents who could not otherwise afford citizenship and family reunification services.  

“Jackie Rishty is the embodiment of ‘The Public Interest Lawyer,’” said Seth Rosenthal, chair of the Scoutt Prize selection committee.

Awarded by the DC Bar Foundation annually, the Scoutt Prize honors a nonprofit attorney who has provided devoted, skillful, and compassionate legal services to underserved DC residents. 

“By directly representing hundreds of immigrants to secure their safety and stability, and by ensuring the effective representation of thousands more as a mentor and leader at Catholic Charities, Jackie has made a difference in countless lives,” Rosenthal said. 

“At a time when our local immigrant communities face unprecedented challenges, the Scoutt Committee is honored to recognize Jackie with this year’s award.”

Rishty’s long commitment to vulnerable immigrant communities stretches back to her law school days in the late 1980s. While pursuing her JD at Brooklyn Law School, she interned with both the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the US Immigration and Naturalization Service, where her work focused on asylum cases and refugee law.

In 1990, Rishty joined Catholic Charities as a staff attorney, providing direct legal representation in a wide range of immigration cases and coordinating citizenship workshops for DC residents. In July 2000, she testified before the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Claims on behalf of Catholic Charities USA in support of HR 3083, the “Battered Immigrant Women Protection Act of 1999.” In 2012, she was promoted to senior managing attorney of Catholic Charities’ Immigration Legal Services program. Just one year later, she became the program's director.

“Jackie is as much about heart as she is about head,” wrote Sister Sharlet Ann Wagner, president of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, in her letter of support for Ms. Rishty’s Scoutt Prize nomination. “I had many opportunities to see her interact with staff and with clients. She is deeply committed to both. Jackie treats clients and her staff with empathy, compassion, and a genuine concern for their well-being.”

The DC Bar Foundation’s Jerrold Scoutt Prize was established in 1993, when the DC law firm Zuckert, Scoutt & Rasenberger (now KMA Zuckert LLC) endowed the $5,000 Prize to honor founding partner Jerrold Scoutt, Jr., and his long-term support of legal services.

The DC Bar Foundation will present the 2026 Scoutt Prize to Rishty at its Fall Reception on Nov. 17.

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About the DC Bar Foundation: We are committed to transforming DC’s legal aid network so all District residents have access to our local civil justice system without regard to knowledge, income, or power. Through our network approach, we actively bring together all invested stakeholders to identify and address the unmet civil legal needs of DC residents with low income, create solutions, and demonstrate meaningful impact.

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