Work on behalf of death row inmates honored with 2024 Exceptional Service Award from ABA

BCLP has been selected to receive the American Bar Association (ABA) 2024 Exceptional Service Award for its pro bono representation of death penalty cases in the past year. The award from the ABA Death Penalty Representation Project is in recognition of BCLP’s “extraordinary impact on capital cases in Missouri and elsewhere, in addition to [its] longstanding partnership with the Project.”

BCLP this past year represented four persons who were sentenced to death. Partners Charlie Weiss and Jonathan Potts are heading up the Marcellus Williams case in Missouri; Partner Jean-Claude (J.C.) André is handling federal appellate proceedings in the Danny Lee Jones case; Partner Scott Greene is heading the Jimmie (“Chris”) Duncan case in Louisiana; and Ben Clark represented Brian Dorsey in proceedings in Missouri.  All have been supported by larger teams. Three of the four cases are still underway. 

The firm has expended a total of more than 9,770 hours on these representations since inception, with involvement from 32 lawyers.

In one or more of these four representations, BCLP has partnered with the Midwest Innocence Project, the New York Innocence Project, the MacArthur Justice Center, the Capital Habeas Unit of the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the District of Arizona, and the Office of Federal Public Defender in Kansas City. In addition to the four representations, BCLP in 2024 entered into an agreement with the American Bar Association’s Death Penalty Representation Project under which BCLP will provide pro bono assistance to the ABA identifying and tracking the status of capital cases in Missouri. 

BCLP will be honored with the Exceptional Service Award along with firm Arnold & Porter.

“Both have shown longstanding commitment to representing death-sentenced prisoners, often in the face of overwhelming odds, and have made a lasting impact on the lives of their pro bono clients and on public awareness of issues in the death penalty system,” the Death Penalty Representation Project wrote.

Since 1986, the ABA Death Penalty Representation Project has focused on improving the quality and availability of legal representation for persons facing possible death sentences. BCLP and all of this year’s ABA volunteer lawyers will be celebrated at the ABA’s 2024 Volunteer Recognition & Awards Event, Sept. 12 in Washington, D.C.