MISSION

"This isn't a matter of us comparing the value of lives, this is recognizing that there is a particular burden that is being placed on a group of our fellow citizens and we should care about that. We can't dismiss it. We can't dismiss it."

~Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States

I believe that any two people regardless of their differences will, if given the opportunity to interact long enough, find a subject upon which they agree. So we all must at some point help one another when there is a genuine need. I believe there may very soon be a genuine need to help some people maintain their voice, their individual liberties, their individual rights, or their freedom.

Courageous advocacy is a devotion to finding help for those in need, a dedication to finding a better way and a better life. A courageous advocate sees things as they ought to be and tries to make them so.

Defend the views of the few, the dissenting voice. Respect the right of the individual to choose one's own destiny, to exercise one's right to personal choice, to select one's own morality. Protect those who cannot protect themselves. Speak for the masses who have no voice save that of a courageous advocate.

Offer your supportive hand and those in need will grip it and rise with the confidence of community.

If every individual is not equal in the eyes of our leaders then our government has failed.

We have travelled so far through bloody, ugly battles to achieve the tolerance that is sprouting in our nation today, don't let it wither and dry back into the soil.

Please embrace the florescence of equality.

~Christopher Andrew Dennison

Andrew Bailey Dennison

January 11, 1931 - June 11, 1993

ANDREW B. DENNISON COURAGEOUS ADVOCATE AWARD

The Andrew B. Dennison Courageous Advocate Award, establish in 1993, is presented by the Potter Stewart Inn of Court to an attorney who upholds the professional obligation to represent the poor, the unpopular or the friendless.

Past recipients have included:

Allen Brown, Esq.

Alphonse A. Gerhardstein, Esq.

Stanley M. Chesley, Esq.

H. Fred Hoefle, Esq.

Peter W. Swenty, Esq.

A. Norman Aubin, Esq.

Robert F. Laufman, Esq.

Robert B. Newman, Esq.

Michael J. O’Hara, Esq.

The Ohio Innocence Project

Perry L. Anacona, Esq.

Marc D. Mezibov, Esq.

The Ohio Justice & Policy Center

Jennifer L. Branch, Esq.

Scott E. Knox, Esq.

COURAGEOUS ADVOCATE

Courageous Advocate