Fourth Department hands out Dillon Attorney for Children Awards

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The 2022 Hon. Michael F. Dillon Attorney for Children Awards were presented Tuesday in the Hon. Samuel L. Green Courtroom of the M. Dolores Denman Courthouse of the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court, Fourth Department.

Each year the Fourth Department’s Attorneys for Children (AFC) Advisory Committee selects two outstanding AFCs for children from the Fifth, Seventh and Eighth Judicial Districts to receive the Dillon Award.

The award, which signifies vigorous advocacy on behalf of children, is named for the late Presiding Justice Michael F. Dillon, who spearheaded the development of the highest quality of representation for children in the Fourth Department and who initiated mandatory training for attorneys for children in New York state.

The awards were presented by Presiding Justice Gerald J. Whalen.

“Choosing to do this work takes a very special person,” Whalen said during the awards presentation.

The following attorneys were named 2022 award winners:

• Stacey L. Scotti (Oneida County, Fifth Judicial District);
• Andrea C. Drumm (Onondaga County, Fifth Judicial District);
• Meredith M.B. Lamb (Ontario County, Seventh Judicial District);
• Edward Dennis Benjamin (Seneca County, Seventh Judicial District);
• Carrie L. Conrad (Erie County, Eighth Judicial District), and
• Alfonso Marra Bax (Niagara County, Eighth Judicial District).

Additionally, Michele A. Brown received a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her exemplary advocacy on behalf of children and her dedication to mentoring the next generation of attorneys for children. It is the first such award from the Fourth Department Attorneys for Children Advisory Committee.

Brown was the chief attorney at the Children’s Legal Center in Buffalo, and she continues to practice as an AFC. She is a longtime member of the Fourth Department Attorneys for Children Advisory Committee and a frequent lecturer for the Third and Fourth Departments’ Attorneys for Children Programs.

The Attorneys for Children Program is comprised of more than 600 attorneys, who dedicate a portion of their practice to taking cases on behalf of the children of Western and Central New York.

These individuals become involved in some of the most difficult family circumstances in an effort to advance the interests of the children before the court.

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