2007 Awards Benefit

Benefit Chair Doug Liman, The Legal Action Center And Its Arthur Liman Policy Institute Honor Rory Kennedy And Brad S. Karp
Monday, May 21, 2007, Tribeca Rooftop, New York City.

Rory Kennedy, award winning documentary filmmaker, and Brad S. Karp, Partner and co-chair of the litigation department at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, were honored at the seventh annual Legal Action Center/Arthur Liman Policy Institute Awards Benefit on May 21 at the Tribeca Rooftop.
Rory Kennedy and Brad S. Karp
Honorees Brad S. Karp and Rory Kennedy. The Benefit raised a record $445,000.

The Legal Action Center and its Arthur Liman Policy Institute honored Ms. Kennedy for her extraordinary documentary film-making and public service, including insightful examinations of HIV/AIDS, drug and alcohol addiction and treatment and the special needs of women, and promoting the rights and dignity of people with addiction histories and HIV.

Doug Liman presents the Arthur Liman Public Interest Award to Honoree Rory Kennedy

Mr. Karp was recognized for his extraordinary dedication to the pursuit of justice and protecting the civil rights and privacy of those with criminal records, histories of addiction, or HIV/AIDS in courts of law and the court of public opinion.

LAC President/Director, Paul N. Samuels, presents the Arthur Liman Public Interest Award to Honoree Brad S. Karp

The benefit raised over $440,000, breaking the previous record by over $100,000 to ensure that Legal Action Center can continue its vital mission.

The highlight of the evening was the award ceremony. Rory Kennedy described the vital work of the Legal Action Center by quoting her father, Robert F. Kennedy, when he was in South Africa many years ago:

"Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

Brad Karp said in his very moving talk that the Legal Action Center has a “unique spirit and mission” and is “the finest public interest law firm in the country.” Click here for the full text of Brad Karp’s speech.

From left to right: LAC President /Director Paul N. Samuels, Honoree Brad S. Karp, Board Chair Daniel K. Mayers, Honoree Rory Kennedy, Benefit chair Doug Liman and Mrs. Ellen Liman

Doug Liman, award-winning film director and member of the Legal Action Center’s Board of Directors, chaired the event and presented the Arthur Liman Public Interest Award to Rory Kennedy. Paul N. Samuels, Director/President of the Legal Action Center, presented the Arthur Liman Public Interest Award to Brad Karp. Daniel K. Mayers, LAC’s Chairman of the Board, emceed the program, which also included an introduction by Ed Davis, attorney and Chair of LAC’s Board Development Committee, and presentation by Judith Resnik, Arthur Liman Professor of Law at Yale Law School.

Support the work of the Legal Action Center and the Arthur Liman Policy Institure by making an online donation.