Renowned Alabama attorney Bryan Stevenson was awarded the 2009 Gruber Justice Prize for his dedicated work representing death row inmates, indigent defendants and juveniles. Stevenson said the $250,000 prize would be directed to the Equal Justice Initiative, an organization Stevenson founded that is best known for representing death row inmates. The Gruber Foundation noted that Stevenson and his staff had been responsible for “for reversals and reduced sentences in more than 75 death penalty cases.” Stevenson shared his appreciation for the award and spoke of his concerns for people on death row in Alabama without lawyers and those as young as 13 sentenced to life in prison without parole. Stevenson has been consistently recognized by the National Law Journal as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in the U.S.
(B. Johnson, “Montgomery attorney wins Gruber Justice Prize,” Montgomery Advertiser, June 11, 2009). The Gruber Justice Prize will be awarded in a ceremony this fall celebrating the achievements of the recipients. The Prize is presented to individuals or organizations for contributions that have advanced the cause of justice as delivered through the legal system. The award is intended to acknowledge individual efforts, as well as to encourage further advancements in the field and progress toward bringing about a fundamentally just world. See Representation.