Covington Honored at Justice Potter Stewart Award Dinner
May 25, 2022
WASHINGTON—Covington was honored with the Justice Potter Stewart Award by the Council for Court Excellence at the 25th Annual Justice Potter Stewart Award Dinner. This award recognizes individuals and organizations whose work on behalf of the administration of justice has made a significant contribution to the law, the legal system, the courts, or the administrative process in Washington D.C.
Covington was honored for its work on Jerry M. v. District of Columbia, a decades-long and ultimately transformative class action lawsuit filed in D.C. Superior Court on behalf of children in the District’s juvenile detention facilities.
Covington joined the Jerry M. case in 2004 at the request of the class's existing counsel, the ACLU and the D.C. Public Defender Service, who were also awarded with the Justice Potter Stewart Award. At a week-long trial, Covington showed that the District had woefully failed to comply with the existing court orders. The facilities were overcrowded, vermin-infested dungeon-like buildings where violence and sexual assault were rampant, and education and health services were essentially absent.
To avoid having its juvenile system placed into court receivership, the District agreed to work with Covington and a “special arbiter” on a novel “work plan” agreement in 2004— to design a series of concrete measures to improve the system. In the past 15 years, there has been gradual but enormous progress, including a new, campus-like facility housing many fewer youth; diversion programs for low-level offenders; and substantial improvements to education, health care, environmental cleanliness, and physical safety.
The February 2020 settlement sought to ensure that the reforms of previous years were preserved and extended, and required Washington D.C. to create an independent government agency to monitor and oversee the juvenile system once the case was officially closed.
The case began in 1985, and when a settlement ended court oversight, Jerry M. was the oldest pending lawsuit against the District.
Alan Pemberton, lead counsel for the plaintiffs’ team, accepted the award for Covington and also received an individual award. The Covington team also included Silvia Wu and Felicia Albano, and several former colleagues.
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