Sue Burrell Receives ABA award

Sue Bur­rell, a staff attor­ney for the San Fran­cis­co-based Youth Law Cen­ter and a JDAI tech­ni­cal assis­tance provider, received the Amer­i­can Bar Association’s 2011 Liv­ingston Hall Juve­nile Jus­tice Award in hon­or of her advo­ca­cy for the rights of youth in Cal­i­for­nia and the rest of the country.

Bur­rell, also a board mem­ber for the San Fran­cis­co-based Pacif­ic Juve­nile Defend­er Cen­ter, received the award on Aug. 5, 2011, at the Bar Association’s meet­ing in Toron­to. Bing­ham McCutchen LLP also held a recep­tion hon­or­ing her in its San Fran­cis­co offices on Aug. 24.

“I have been for­tu­nate through­out my career to have great peo­ple to learn from and to work with, plus the free­dom to act in accor­dance with my high­est val­ues,” Bur­rell said.

The Liv­ingston Hall Juve­nile Jus­tice Award was estab­lished in 1985 by the ABA Juve­nile Jus­tice Com­mit­tee. Named after the Har­vard Law School pro­fes­sor emer­i­tus who became an ear­ly chair of the com­mit­tee, the award rec­og­nizes lawyers who make pos­i­tive and sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tions to juve­nile justice.

“The Liv­ingston Hall award is giv­en to those unsung and self­less heroes who advo­cate force­ful­ly for chil­dren and advance their inter­ests, in court and out,” said Jay Elliott, a prac­tic­ing attor­ney in South Car­oli­na and chair of the awards com­mit­tee. ​“Sue Bur­rell per­son­i­fies the rea­son this award was created.”
Bur­rell joined the Youth Law Cen­ter in 1987, and has been involved in a num­ber of sig­nif­i­cant cas­es chal­leng­ing inad­e­quate con­di­tions in California’s juve­nile facil­i­ties. Her work has also includ­ed advo­ca­cy, con­sult­ing, and author­ing juve­nile jus­tice arti­cles and train­ing materials.

“It is dif­fi­cult to think of any more worth­while way to spend my life than in improv­ing the like­li­hood of suc­cess­ful out­comes for young peo­ple in the juve­nile jus­tice sys­tem,” she said.