[District of Columbia, June 17, 2021] – The District of Columbia Bar Foundation has selected Rebecca Lindhurst as the 2021 Jerrold Scoutt Prize recipient. Ms. Lindhurst is a Managing Attorney for Bread for the City’s housing practice and Community Lawyering Project and has worked for the organization since 2002.
The Scoutt 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 financially disenfranchised or otherwise disadvantaged persons 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.
In announcing the award, Seth A. Rosenthal, partner at Venable LLP and chair of the Foundation’s Scoutt Prize Selection Committee, said, "We are honored to recognize Rebecca for her exceptional, career-long dedication to improving the lives of District residents."
Rosenthal went on to say: “For almost two decades, Rebecca has advocated tirelessly for District residents at risk of housing loss. On top of the brilliant work she has done in hundreds of individual cases, she has mentored a new generation of housing attorneys and made significant contributions to the systemic reform of Landlord and Tenant Court practice by, among other things, helping to establish the Landlord/Tenant Attorney of the Day Project.”
In addition to her current work as Managing Attorney for Bread for the City’s housing practice and Community Lawyering Project, which she helped create, Ms. Lindhurst was previously instrumental in establishing the Landlord-Tenant Court-Based Legal Services Project in partnership with colleagues at the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia.
Ms. Lindhurst also helped to direct Bread for the City’s participation in the Housing Right to Counsel Project and is part of a leadership team that manages the Landlord-Tenant Legal Assistance Network. Her zealous advocacy for DC tenants does not stop there. Ms. Lindhurst has worked with tenant organizations to purchase buildings, helped families file claims to secure monetary damages, and even gone to her clients’ homes to clean them herself. Ms. Lindhurst’s hands-on approach and dedication to her clients are nothing short of remarkable.
Ms. Lindhurst began her career in 1999 as a staff attorney for the Housing Conservation Coordinators in New York, NY, where she helped advance tenant rights in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York City. Since 2002, Ms. Lindhurst has dedicated her talents to Bread for the City, where she has served as a staff, supervising, and now a managing attorney. Ms. Lindhurst has a BA from State University College at Buffalo and a JD from the City University of New York School of Law.
The Jerrold Scoutt Prize was endowed by the Washington, DC firm of Zuckert, Scoutt & Rasenberger and 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. In 2019, Zuckert, Scoutt & Rasenberger merged with Kaplan, Massamillo & Andrews and is now KMA Zuckert LLC. The DC Bar Foundation will present the 2021 Jerrold Scoutt Prize during its Fall Reception on October 28, 2021.
About the DC Bar Foundation: For DC residents in poverty, we make strategic investments to strengthen and expand our civil legal aid network, addressing critical needs and improving our community. As the largest funder of civil legal aid in the District, we are a steadfast community partner committed to protecting access to justice in life’s most pivotal moments.
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