Legal Aid DC today announced that the organization will honor trailblazing attorneys Karen L. Dunn and Ben Wilson with the Servant of Justice Award at the 35th Annual Servant of Justice Awards Dinner, to be held in Washington on April 29, 2025.

Ms. Dunn and Mr. Wilson will receive their awards and provide remarks at the Dinner, which will bring together leading public servants and attorneys from across the District to recognize the awardees for their service and support Legal Aid DC’s work providing low-income District residents access to free legal services. The Servant of Justice Award recognizes exemplary commitment to the pursuit of justice from legal luminaries who have dedicated their careers to the protection of underserved communities and the defense of moral and ethical standards under the law.

“It’s an honor to celebrate Karen and Ben, two legal titans who throughout their careers have prioritized advancing public service and supporting their DC community,” said Vikram Swaruup, Executive Director of Legal Aid DC. “We look forward to celebrating their work to advance the promise of justice for all—both by taking on pro bono cases and by lifting up others in the legal community. Karen and Ben’s contributions reflect the values of Legal Aid DC and the work we do every day to support low-income residents across the District.”

Karen Dunn is a partner and co-chair of the Litigation Department at Paul, Weiss, where she has made public service a central piece of her career. Ms. Dunn, with her co-counsel, won a groundbreaking verdict against neo-Nazi and white supremacist movement leaders responsible for racially motivated violence in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. Despite her national profile, Ms. Dunn has focused on supporting District residents throughout her career. In 2016, she secured an important victory for DC budget autonomy and home rule, which affirmed the right of DC government officials to control the city’s budget and paved the way for critical programs that support Legal Aid’s client community, including Access to Justice funding. Ms. Dunn also represented a group of parents who sued a synagogue in DC after they alleged their children were sexually abused at its preschool. In 2024, Ms. Dunn launched and currently co-leads Paul, Weiss’ Center to Combat Hate, which partners with civil rights organizations and educational institutions to bring impact litigation to confront and redress hate-driven violence and intimidation.  

Ben Wilson is the President of the Board of the DC Bar Foundation and the former Chair of Beveridge & Diamond, where he was one of the first African Americans to lead a major law firm.  Few can match his record of community leadership, which has included chairing the boards of the Environmental Law Institute, the Healthy Babies Project, and the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights & Urban Affairs, as well as the D.C. Board of Elections & Ethics. Mr. Wilson has also engaged in significant pro bono work on behalf of District residents. For example, he helped obtain a settlement for the family of Carl Dupree, a Gallaudet University student who was killed by campus police in 1990. He was also a member of the team that represented a D.C. public housing resident and her minor daughter who suffered from lead poisoning, in a case that led to new requirements for the removal of lead-based paint in federally-funded public housing. He also cofounded the Environmental Law program at Howard University School of Law, where he has taught since 2004.  

William Isaacson and Jeannie Rhee of Paul, Weiss; Emily Loeb of Jenner; Ronald C. Machen of WilmerHale; and Kirra L. Jarratt of the DC Bar Foundation will serve as co-chairs of this year’s dinner. With the Dinner, Legal Aid DC aims to surpass the $2 million fundraising record in 2024.

In addition to the Servant of Justice Awards, Legal Aid will present the Klepper Prize for Volunteer Excellence to a pro bono attorney and the Partnership Award to a client at the Dinner. The Dinner will also feature remarks about Legal Aid’s work and successes over the last year.

Tickets are available online and sponsorships for the Dinner start at $10,000 for a table of ten. Please contact Madison Cassell, Deputy Director of Development, at mcassell@legalaiddc.org or (202) 661-5975 for more information about supporting the Dinner.