TMSL ALUMNUS RECEIVES VIRGINIA STATE BAR AWARD

David P. Baugh, a 1975 graduate of Thurgood Marshall School of Law, received the 16th annual Lewis F. Powell Jr. Pro Bono Award presented by the Special committee on Access to Legal Services of the Virginia State Bar. 

Named for a late U.S. Supreme Court Justice from Richmond, Virginia, the award will be presented to Baugh on April 26 at the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, during the Annual Virginia State Bar Pro Bono Conference.

Baugh was selected for the award based on the following criteria:  pro bono representation of several First Amendment cases; defense of indigent criminal defendants in complex court-appointed cases for nominal compensation; and dedication to training members of the defense bar through continuing legal education.    

The American Bar Association named Baugh, a “Human Rights Hero” for his representation of Ku Klux Klan member Barry Elton Black for burning a cross at a 1998 Klan rally in Virginia.  Baugh, who is African American, took his defense of Black’s free speech rights to the U.S. Supreme Court and prevailed.

Steven D. Rosenfield, a Charlottesville attorney, nominated Baugh to receive the award.  Rosenfield worked with Baugh on pro bono civil litigation.  Rosenfield expressed, “As a board member of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, Baugh has represented for free students, prisoners, and a host of other individuals who have needed an advocate to protect them from the government.”

Baugh is a former Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and the Eastern District of Texas.