ABOTA Honors Morris Dees

The Washington Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) presented the 2001 Courageous Lawyer Award to Morris Dees, Chief Trial Counsel for the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama. Morris Dees has devoted his professional life to civil rights litigation, particularly using the power of the jury trial against hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, the White Aryan Resistance, and recently, the Aryan Nations in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

ABOTA presented the award to Dees for his work in the case against Richard Butler and the Aryan Nations, which resulted in a $6.8 million jury verdict against the defendants. The group commended him for using the jury trial in a creative way to achieve justice.