ABA honors 2026 public service award recipients

July 07, 2026

ABA honors 2026 public service award recipients

WASHINGTON, July 7, 2026 - Assisting citizens to eliminate barriers to employment, housing and economic freedom; shutting down a hotbed for criminal activity and human trafficking; and working to ensure that our most vulnerable population, children and youth, have a voice in our justice system are some of the accomplishments recognized by the American Bar Association Government and Public Sector Lawyers Division (GPSLD) through its 2026 Dorsey, Hodson and Nelson Awards.

GPSLD will recognize two judges and a county attorney's office that helped ensure meaningful justice in their local communities through the division's 2026 Dorsey, Hodson and Nelson awards. The Dorsey Award honors an outstanding public defender or legal aid lawyer. The Hodson Award recognizes an exceptional government or public sector law office. The Nelson Award recognizes superior, sustained contributions to the ABA by an individual public lawyer.

"Public lawyers across the country are dedicated to upholding the rule of law and helping to solve some of their communities' most pressing challenges. Especially in today's environment, it is important to honor and recognize those who devote their time, talent and commitment to these essential public service efforts," said Liani Reeves, chair of the ABA Government and Public Sector Lawyers Division.

This year's honorees are:

The 2026 Dorsey Award: Judge Ginger Leigh Odom, Circuit Court, Cook County, Illinois

Prior to her appointment to the bench, Judge Odom worked in the Illinois Office of the State Appellate Defender (OSAD) for over 20 years. Recognizing that clients who were victorious on appeal were often left struggling through expungement procedures, Judge Odom collaborated with a coworker to provide them with much needed guidance and began attending and organizing events to educate the community about expungement procedures, all while still managing her heavy workload at OSAD. Odom's efforts demonstrated to the head of the agency that a need existed for a dedicated Expungement Unit at OSAD, staffed with an attorney. As a result, a portion of the budget was used to create a new position, and Judge Odom became the director of expungement. In that role, she brought information about record-clearing directly to those who most need it: those imprisoned in the Illinois Department of Corrections. This direct-to-the-people approach, along with the resources she helped develop, provided clear guidance to record-clearing in Illinois. In her work as director of expungement, Judge Odom helped countless Illinois citizens to eliminate barriers to employment, housing and economic freedom.

The 2026 Hodson Award: El Paso County Attorney's Office

The El Paso County Attorney's Office used innovative legal action to shut down a county hotel that law enforcement agencies had identified as a hotbed for lawlessness and human trafficking. It's creative use of civil statutes shifted the burden of public safety from reactive policing to proactive civil litigation, successfully resolving a multi-year crisis of illicit activity and transnational criminality. Its work was bolstered by seamless interagency coordination with the El Paso Fire and Police departments.

While managing this complex legal intervention, the office also worked to ensure the humanitarian relocation of vulnerable hotel residents including elderly, children and disabled persons by partnering with non-profit organizations. Collaborations with the El Paso Coalition for the Homeless, the Opportunity Center and Project Amistad made certain that the displaced residents had access to emergency shelters and rapid re-housing programs.

The office's actions reduced a significant drain on municipal resources, made the downtown area safer for all residents and facilitated the property's redevelopment into a national hotel brand.

The 2026 Nelson Award: Judge Brenda Robinson, Los Angeles County Superior Court

Before her judicial appointment, Judge Robinson served as senior lawyer for the Children's Law Center of California (CLC) for 10 years. In her position at CLC she represented juveniles with pending cases in both the Dependency and the Juvenile Justice courts, while also training other attorneys on how to manage their own cases involving dual status youth. She used the knowledge and expertise gained in that position to inform and enhance her volunteer work for the American Bar Association as the chair of the ABA Commission on Youth and Family Justice (formerly the Commission on Youth at Risk) from 2022-2025.

As commission chair, Judge Robinson presented ABA Resolution 606 to the House of Delegates in August 2022. The resolution called on all legal professionals to recognize the connection between child welfare and racism, and it passed with almost unanimous support. Between 2022 and 2024, Robinson helped lead approximately 12 presentations on Resolution 606, including a plenary address at the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges' Annual Conference, a presentation as part of the New York Judicial College, and a special session at the Kempe Center International Summit on Children's Rights. In October 2023, she helped spearhead a convening co-led by the ABA Commission on Youth and Family Justice and Hofstra Law School titled, "Renewal and Revolution: Recommitting the Legal Profession to Serving Children and Youth, their Families and Communities." This event brought together roughly 85 leaders from across the country to chart a future course for legal work that best serves children, their families and communities.

The ABA Government and Public Sector Lawyers Division provides programs, publications and online resources specifically designed for government, public sector and military lawyers, as well as interested law students.