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Louisiana Civil Legal Aid Awards
In 2015, the LSBA introduced two new awards at the Louisiana Justice Community
Conference recognizing excellence and ingenuity in the civil justice community. The Legal
Service Excellence in Advocacy Award recognizes an individual advocate who has
displayed the highest levels of dedication, passion, and professionalism in representing
vulnerable clients. The Legal Service Innovation Award recognizes an individual attorney
or organization that has developed an innovative program or service that effectively meets
the legal needs of vulnerable populations in Louisiana. To learn more about the 2021
awards and recipients, visit this link. Past recipients can be found here.

Statewide Task Forces
The ATJ staff works with five statewide substantive law task forces to provide practice area-
specific forums for discussion among civil legal aid and volunteer attorneys. The Task Forces
include Elder Law, Family Law, Housing and Consumer Law, Public Benefits Law, and Child in
Need of Care. Members of these groups also develop CLE programming to address topic-specific
poverty law training needs of the legal services and pro bono organizations.

Standing Committees staffed by Access to Justice

Children’s Law Committee, Co-Chairs Otha “Curtis” Nelson, Jr. and Kellie Johnson
The LSBA Children's Law Committee was established to provide a forum through which attorneys
and judges working with children can promote improvements and changes in the legal system
which benefits children, parents, and the professionals who serve these families. Over the past
several years, the Committee has emphasized the needs of youth in foster care and/or those
experiencing “Child in Need of Care” (CINC) proceedings. The Committee has been focused on
how to implement trauma-informed practices in the court system and successfully advocated for a
Children’s Law section under the LSBA’s Opinions Law Service. Most recently, the Committee
has worked on material for a Special Edition of the Bar Journal that focuses on the Committee’s
most recent education work mentioned above such as, CINC related proceedings, Trauma-
Informed Lawyering, Special Education Services in Juvenile Facilities, and working with Children
in the Virtual World. This edition of the Louisiana Bar Journal is set to be published in the
August/September. The Children’s Law Committee members co-hosted (LSPD Committee and
the Language Access Committee) a virtual skills training session with students at LSU Law
School’s virtual “Apprenticeship Week” where students took turns practicing hypothetical
interviews with people with disabilities, children, and limited English proficiency clients. The
Committee is working with Loyola University College of Law to host a skills training in the Fall.

Criminal Justice Committee, Co-Chairs Jean Faria and Barksdale Hortenstine, Vice-Chair
Norma Dubois
The mission of the Criminal Justice Committee is to recognize and address issues affecting the
Louisiana criminal justice system, provide a forum for discussion, and work with stakeholders to

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