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Benefit Awards Dinner

Past Dinners

2007

2007 Honorees were:

  • Congressman Charles Rangel
    Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee
  • Cynthia Nixon
    Award-winning Actress and Education Advocate
  • James Lipscomb
    Executive Vice President and General Counsel, MetLife, Inc.
  • Jillynn Stevens
    Director of Policy, Advocacy and Research, Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies


Reception for Congressman Charles Rangel

Due to legislative commitments, Congressman Rangel could not be present at the Dinner. He received the James Corman Award, honoring the late Congressman, NCLEJ Board member, and advocate for the poor, from Wendell Primus, Senior Policy Advisor to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, at a separate reception on May 31 hosted by Simpson Thacher and Bartlett.

Congressman Charles Rangel Video for 2007 Dinner

See Photo Gallery from 2007 Dinner

See Photo Gallery from 2007 Rangel Reception

For Information about the 2008 Dinner

2006

Friends and supporters of the Center gathered on May 15 at the Puck Building in Manhattan for our annual gala awards dinner, ...And Justice For All. The event, chaired by Paul Dodyk and John Hall, along with co-chairs Richard Beattie, Richard Cotton, and Donna Wilson, celebrated the work of the Center and its allies advancing the cause of economic justice across the country. Attendees on this special evening were also privileged to be present as our new name and logo were unveiled and the Welfare Law Center became the National Center for Law and Economic Justice.

2006 Annual Benefit Dinner Photo
Henry Freedman, Teresa Benitez-Thompson, Paul Dodyk, George Soros, Joseph Stiglitz, Sheryl Sandberg, Nell Hahn, Douglas Curtis and John Hall

2006 Honorees were:

  • 2001 Nobel Laureate in economics Joseph Stiglitz, former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, former Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank, and author of the books Globalization and its Discontents and the forthcoming Making Globalization Work. Mr. Stiglitz's award was presented by George Soros.
  • Adoption Recruitment Specialist and former Miss Nevada Teresa Benitez-Thompson, founder and former President of the Nevada Empowered Women's Project, a grassroots low-income-women-led organization that advocates for the rights of women and children living in or near poverty.
  • Nell Hahn Director of Systems Advocacy and Litigation at the Advocacy Center in Louisiana, a long-time advocate for people with physical disabilities. Ms. Hahn is co-counsel with the Center in litigation challenging FEMA's failure to provide accessible housing to Katrina evacuees with disabilities.
  • Google, Inc., which was accepted by Sheryl Sandberg, Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations, who has run the online sales and operations of Google's AdWords program since its inception in 2002. Ms. Sandberg led the creation of google.org and the Google Grants Program, which has donated over $50 million of advertising to non-profits worldwide.

2005

2005 Honorees were:

  • Benjamin W. Heineman, Jr., Senior Vice President for Law and Public Service at GE
  • Paul Krugman, Professor of Economics and International Affairs, Princeton university; Op-Ed Columnist, The New york Times
  • Deval Patrick, former Assistant Attorney General for Civil rights, US Department of Justice; former VP and General Counsel at Texaco and Coca-Cola
  • Memorial Tribute to John H. Pickering, Founding Partner of Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale and Dorr LLP

2004

2004 Honorees were:

  • Honorable Edward M. Kennedy, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts
  • Esther F. Lardent, President and CEO of the ProBono Institute at Georgetown University
  • Donna M. Wilson, Regional President, Community and External Affairs Division, Washington Mutual

2003

2003 Honorees were:

  • Barbara Ehrenreich, noted author, journalist and social commentator
  • Stephen L. Kass, Esq., Partner, Carter Ledyard and Milburn, LLP; former Chair of the WLC Board
  • Megan E. McLaughlin, former CEO of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies
  • Shirley S. Peoples, lifelong welfare rights activist

2000

2000 Honorees were:

  • H. Carl McCall, Comptroller, State of New York
  • Richard Blum, Legal Aid Society
  • Gail Aska, Community Voices Heard
  • Arthur Cheliotes and William Henning, Communication Workers of America Local 1180
  • Dewey Ballantine LLP
  • Davis Polk & Wardwell