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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
NEW ORLEANS--AIDSLaw of Louisiana, Inc., the state's only non-profit provider of free legal services to those infected and affected by AIDS, is honoring five individuals with its community-service awards.
The awards and their recipients are:
· Teri Estrada Memorial Award: Peter Stevens
· Pro Bono Publico Award: Steve Chiccarelli, Susan F. Clade, Nancy Goodwin and M. Suzanne Montero
"The HIV and AIDS epidemic is far from over," said Linton Carney, executive director of AIDSLaw, "and neither are the legal needs of those whose lives have been forever altered by the disease. The award winners we honor have demonstrated untiring devotion to helping individuals improve the quality of their lives, fight both intended and unintended discrimination, and regain the personal integrity they deserve."
STEVENS is an attorney on the staff of the Third Circuit Court of Appeal headquartered in Lake Charles. A 1987 graduate from LSU Law School, Stevens was one of the incorporators of Southwest Louisiana AIDS Council, provided the organization's initial financing, and served as its first chair. He became a certified HIV testing counselor in 1991, and has been a volunteer counselor for over 10 years. He started the local AIDS hotline in 1989, served as a buddy to infected persons, and developed the first "buddy manual" for other volunteers. A tireless speaker, Stevens has made presentations at numerous organizations in the Lake Charles area, and has continued to be an active volunteer and fund-raiser for Southwest Louisiana AIDS Council. He recently received the J.C. Penney Golden Rule Award for Outstanding Volunteer of the Year.
CHICCARELLI is a partner at the law firm of Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, LLP, in Baton Rouge and specializes in creditor and bankruptcy law. A native of New York, Chiccarelli moved to Louisiana as a child and graduated from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at LSU in 1985. He has been active in numerous community affairs, including the Baton Rouge Food Bank and Catholic Charities/Boys Hope. He served as treasurer in 1995 for the East Baton Rouge Parish Young Republicans, and has worked as an election commissioner. A member of the editorial board of the Louisiana Law Journal from 1998 through 2000, Chiccarelli remains a contributing writer to that publication. He has been a frequent speaker at seminars and has published extensively in professional journals. Chiccarelli has assisted AIDSLaw clients in a variety of matters involving debts and bankruptcy.
After receiving a BA and MA in history from Tulane University, CLADE taught school in Jefferson Parish before obtaining her law degree, cum laude, from Tulane in 1982. Presently in private practice specializing in employment discrimination and business and contract law, she also serves as an ad hoc judge in Orleans Parish Juvenile Court and as a hearings officer for the New Orleans Taxicab Bureau. She is also active in the American Arbitration Association, and was a board member of the National Conference of Women's Bar Association from 1991 to 1997. Her civic activities include service on the New Orleans Council for Young Children, the YMCA and the United Way's Lawyer's Committee. An advocate for women and for gay and lesbian issues, Clade has served on the Committee of 21, the Forum for Equality, and the Louisiana Council for Equal Rights. She was also actively involved in securing the passage of the New Orleans Human Rights Ordinance in the early 1990s. An long-time volunteer attorney, Clade has also spoken at Continuing Legal Education programs sponsored by AIDSLaw.
GOODWIN, a native of Mississippi, has been involved in human or civil rights for most of her adult life. In the 1970s she worked in London for Amnesty International, then returned to the United States and became director of the Louisiana Coalition on Jails and Prisons from 1978 to 1982. Since 1982, she has been a paralegal in the Administrative Law Unit of Acadiana Legal Services in Lafayette. Goodwin represents disabled people in their claims for SSI, Medicaid and other public benefits. She began advocating for persons living with HIV during the 1980s and helped many of them obtain Social Security and Medicaid benefits. She worked with medical providers and social service agencies to make sure that the clients received all benefits and services to which they were entitled. She has addressed many civic and church groups to dispel myths about HIV and the people who have it. Goodwin also obtained her notarial commission to enable her to notarize last-minute wills and other documents for sick people on weekends and after business hours.
MONTERO, a native of New Orleans, received her BA in 1985 from Southern Methodist University and her JD from LSU in 1991. With the New Orleans law firm of Martzell & Bickford, Montero has an extensive civil practice encompassing commercial litigation, environmental law, products liability, and employment and housing discrimination. Besides being admitted to practice in the local state and federal courts, she is admitted to practice before the Chitimacha Tribal Court. She is active in the Federal Bar Association, the Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association, and has served as adjunct professor at Tulane for the trial advocacy program since 1996. Montero spoke on housing discrimination at the Continuing Legal Education program sponsored by AIDSLaw in 2000 and will do so again this coming December.
Winners will be honored at a reception June 14 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Country Club, 634 Louisa St, in New Orleans. Presiding over the event will be U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan. The evening also will feature food, entertainment, a silent auction, and more. There will be a cash bar. All tax-deductible proceeds will benefit the clients served by AIDSLaw. Tickets, which cost $35, can be purchased from AIDSLaw at (504) 568-1631 or toll-free at 1-800-375-5035.
AIDSLaw of Louisiana, formed in 1989, provides free legal services to low-income clients living with HIV and AIDS. It is the only organization in Louisiana dedicated exclusively to addressing the legal needs of the HIV and AIDS population.
AIDSLaw of Louisiana, Inc. P.O. Box 30203, New Orleans, LA 70190