HARVARD'S BENJAMIN W. HEINEMAN, JR. HONORED FOR
LIFELONG COMMITMENT TO SOCIAL JUSTICE

WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 19, 2006) – Benjamin W. Heineman, Jr., Distinguished Senior Fellow at Harvard Law School's Program on the Legal Profession and Senior Counsel to the firm of WilmerHale, will be honored by Equal Justice Works during the organization's 2006 Awards Dinner on Thursday, October 19, 2006 in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Heineman of New York City is being honored with the "Scales of Justice Award" for his lifelong commitment to social justice and the promotion of pro bono legal services. He will be introduced by Brackett B. Denniston, III, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, General Electric Company.

Mr. Heineman's leadership was critical in the founding of the Pro Bono Partnership in 1997. The partnership provides free legal services and resources to community based organizations in Westchester County, New York; Fairfield County, Connecticut; and New Jersey state on a variety of legal matters that the communities face but cannot afford to address with legal counsel. The project also creates opportunities for corporate counsel to provide volunteer or pro bono services to their communities. As a result of this project's success, similar partnerships have started across the country.

Mr. Heineman's other services to his community include service on the boards of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Transparency International-USA and the National Constitution Center.

From 1987-2003, Heineman was the Senior Vice President & General Counsel for General Electric Company (GE). He then served as Senior Vice President for Law and Public Affairs at GE until his retirement in 2005.

Mr. Heineman's impressive career has also included positions as managing partner of Sidley & Austin; Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation with the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare under President Carter; and law clerk to Associate Justice Potter Stewart of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was a Rhodes Scholar and is an author of books on British race relations and the American presidency.

Equal Justice Works creates and supports public interest law opportunities for law students and lawyers. The 2006 Equal Justice Works Awards Dinner is the nation's largest gathering of public interest law supporters and recognizes extraordinary achievements in this field. The dinner will take place at 6:00 p.m. at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. Media representatives interested in attending should contact James Greif at (571) 228-6932 or jgreif@equaljusticeworks.org.

Equal Justice Works, a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1986 by law students dedicated to working for equal justice on behalf of underserved communities and causes. Today, Equal Justice Works is the national leader in creating summer and postgraduate public interest opportunities for law students and lawyers as well as in urging more public interest programming at law schools. For more information about Equal Justice Works, visit www.equaljusticeworks.org.

– end –