Chicago Legal Legends Honored for Impact on Civil Rights, Community  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Nancy Rodriguez media@acslaw.org

CHICAGO — Some have been instrumental in empowering the minority legal community. Others have worked to expand voting rights, and others advocated for policing practice reforms. All five will be honored July 21 by the American Constitution Society’s (ACS) Chicago Lawyer Chapter at its annual Legal Legends Luncheon for their impact on Chicago and its legal community.

Three of the attorneys have been selected to receive the Abner J. Mikva Award named in honor of the late Hon. Abner J. Mikva, a former congressman, federal judge, White House legal counsel and law professor who was instrumental in ACS’s creation. The award recognizes Chicago-area lawyers and judges who have made extraordinary contributions to progressive legal causes.

The 2021 Abner J. Mikva Award recipients are:

• Craig Futterman, Clinical Professor of Law, The University of Chicago Law School
• Larry R. Rogers, Sr., Founding Partner, Power Rogers
• Zaldwaynaka ("Z") Scott, President, Chicago State University

The ACS Chicago Lawyer Chapter also will present the 2021 Ruth Goldman Award at the luncheon. The award recognizes Chicago-area women who have made significant contributions to advance the status of women and the goals of ACS, and is named in honor of the late Ruth Goldman, who was pivotal to the founding of the Chicago Lawyer Chapter and one of the driving forces behind the first luncheon. She was a partner at the firm now-known as Miller Shakman, and also a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Department of the Jewish Family and Community Services.

The 2021 Ruth Goldman Award recipients are:

• Ami Gandhi, Senior Counsel, Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights
• Shareese Pryor, Senior Staff Counsel and Director of Justice Reform, BPI

“We are thrilled to be honoring this diverse and dynamic slate of legal powerhouses who have made a significant impact in Chicago and beyond,” said Julia Waterhous, Director of the Chicago Legal Legends Luncheon. “This year’s awardees now join a class of Legal Legend honorees spanning over a decade, who have advanced—and continue to advance—a progressive legal vision.”

The award recipients will be honored at the ACS Chicago Lawyer Chapter’s 16^th Annual Legal Legends Luncheon on Wednesday, July 21 at 12 p.m. CT. The event is virtual and will feature U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island as the keynote speaker.

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AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY
ACS believes that the Constitution is “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” We interpret the Constitution based on its text and against the backdrop of history and lived experience. Through a diverse nationwide network of progressive lawyers, law students, judges, scholars, and many others, we work to uphold the Constitution in the 21st century by ensuring that law is a force for protecting our democracy and the public interest and for improving people’s lives. For more information, visit us at www.acslaw.org or on Twitter at @acslaw.