The Virginia Bar Association to recognize Andrew K. Block, Jr. with first Robert E. Shepherd, Jr. Award; New chair, members of VBA Commission on Needs of Children announced

The Virginia Bar Association has announced today the creation of the Robert E. Shepherd, Jr. award for excellence in advocacy for children.  The first recipient of the award will be Andrew K. (Andy) Block, Jr., legal director of the JustChildren Program of the Legal Aid Justice Center in Charlottesville.  The award will be presented at the VBA’s 119^th Summer Meeting at The Homestead on July 24.  A longtime chair of the VBA Commission on the Needs of Children and leader of the VBA’s work in creating standards for guardians ad litem in Virginia courts, Shepherd died in December 2008.  He was a professor emeritus at the University of Richmond School of Law and a leader in legal issues affecting children and families.  As noted by Elizabeth Lacy, Senior Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia, “Bob’s contributions [to] informing and molding public policy for juveniles and juvenile justice are legendary.”  Richmond law school dean John G. Douglass added, “His teaching, writing and legislative advocacy have had a profound impact on the lives of children and youth throughout Virginia and the nation.”

Block (L) and Shepherd (R) at an ABA awards ceremony in Chicago

Shepherd was a founder and board member of Richmond law school’s National Center for Family Law and headed the American Bar Association’s Juvenile Justice Committee.  He was the first person inducted into the Virginia Juvenile Court Hall of Fame and was also awarded the American Bar Association’s Livingston Hall Juvenile Justice Award for his contributions to children’s legal rights.  Shepherd earned both bachelor’s and law degrees from Washington and Lee University.

Formerly a lawyer for indigent juvenile defendants with the Seattle-King County Public Defender, Block founded the JustChildren Program in 1998 with a Soros Justice Fellowship.  Now the largest children’s law program in Virginia, the project includes 10 staff members in three cities (Charlottesville, Richmond and Petersburg) and provides comprehensive legal representation to vulnerable young people, coordinates statewide advocacy efforts to expand and protect the rights of Virginia children, and trains and organizes parents, lawyers and child-serving professionals to become more effective and informed advocates for children.  Block is also the founder and supervisor of the Children’s Advocacy Clinic at the University of Virginia School of Law.  A former winner of the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division Child Advocacy Award and a Virginia Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year, he is a graduate of Yale University and Northwestern University School of Law.

Professor Shepherd played a key role in helping Block secure the initial fellowship to start JustChildren, and served as a friend, mentor, and advisor to him in the intervening years.  Both received their awards from the American Bar Association at the annual meeting in Chicago in 2005.

In connection with the establishment of the Shepherd Award and announcement of Block as its first recipient, the VBA also announced today that its Commission on the Needs of Children will now be chaired by Professor Margaret Ivey Bacigal, director of the clinical placement program at the University of Richmond School of Law.  Block, also a longtime member of the Commission, will continue to serve in that capacity.  Other members of the Commission, a multi-disciplinary group of professionals serving the legal and other needs of children, include Betty Wade Coyle of Norfolk, director of Prevent Child Abuse Hampton Roads;  Jory H. Fisher, an attorney from Lynchburg; Robin L. Foster, M.D., director of pediatric emergency services at the VCU Medical Center in Richmond; Richard E. Garriott, Jr., a Norfolk lawyer; Larry T. Harley of Marion, executive director of the Southwest Virginia Legal Aid Society; Judge Jerrauld C. Jones of the Norfolk Circuit Court; Mary E. Langer, a deputy in the office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney for the City of Richmond; Jean Niebauer, director of the City of Alexandria’s Office of Human Rights; Diane E. Pappas, M.D., director of child advocacy for the University of Virginia Children’s Hospital; Patricia Puritz, executive director of the National Juvenile Defender Center in Washington, DC; William B. Reichart, a Fairfax lawyer; Judge Winship C. Tower of the Virginia Beach Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court; and Professor Adrienne Volenik, acting director of the National Center for Family Law at the University of Richmond.