Pro Bono Award Goes to Edward Hudson

Legal Aid and Defender Association has bestowed its 2007 Pro Bono Service Award on Edward F. Hudson II of Detroit in recognition of his “commitment to assure equal access to justice for all.”

Hudson is an attorney with the firm of Stull PLC, Detroit. Previously, he was a staff attorney for Legal Aid and Defender and United Auto Workers Legal Service Plan, and an associate attorney for Harris, Karsteadt, Jamison & Powers, P.C., Englewood, Colo.

Hudson is a graduate of Duquesne University School of Law, Pittsburgh, Pa., and Wheeling Jesuit University, Wheeling, W.Va. He and his wife, Dr. Heidi M. Hudson, and their two children live in Detroit.

"I feel strange getting this award because what I did is no more than attorneys are supposed to do,” Hudson said. “We are supposed to give back to our community."

Lynda Krupp, managing attorney of Legal Aid and Defender’s Private Attorney Involvement unit, presented the award to Hudson at the annual meeting of the Oakland County Bar Association June 13.

"Ed helped clients at a number of our assisted pro se divorce clinics for indigent residents of Oakland County,” Krupp said. “We conducted these clinics at our Oakland office in Pontiac after the Women's Survival Center there closed last summer. Ed’s work was critical in assuring that Oakland residents could continue receiving these necessary legal services."

Legal Aid and Defender is Michigan’s largest provider of free civil legal services to low-income residents. It serves metropolitan Detroit through its offices in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties. It also represents criminal defendants in Wayne County and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Including brief consultations and comprehensive legal services, the public law firm handles some 15,000 legal matters yearly.

“We work with clients in a comprehensive manner, so that as we solve their legal problems, we help solve other problems as well,” said Executive Director Deierdre L. Weir. “We help people rebuild their lives and help families stay together.”

Legal Aid Fights for Residents of Dangerous Apartment Building

Legal Aid and Defender made news recently with a case being handled by the Civil Law Group on behalf of several residents who have been living under deplorable conditions in an apartment house at 53 Marston in Detroit.

Here, attorney Robert Day of the Civil Law Group is being interviewed by TVFox2 reporter Bill Gallagher in front of the apartment building. Behind Day is Gwen Dozier (left) and Michele Hall-Edwards.

Some of the dangerous conditions of the building include a broken alarm system and elevators that do not operate.