OACDL Member William R. Gallagher Receives Criminal Defense Bar’s Top Honor
Washington, DC (Aug. 11, 2011) - Cincinnati attorney William R. Gallagher was awarded the 31st annual Robert C. Heeney Memorial Award, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ most prestigious honor, on August 6 at its 53rd Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado. The award is given annually to one criminal defense lawyer who best exemplifies the goals and values of the Association and the legal profession.
Formerly a public defender with the Cook County Public Defender’s Office, Bill Gallagher is currently a partner at the criminal defense firm Arenstein & Gallagher. He previously served as the president of the Greater Cincinnati Criminal Defense Lawyers, as well as on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He currently heads CLE programming for NACDL.
NACDL Immediate Past President Jim E. Lavine, presented Bill with the Heeney Award. “Under Bill’s leadership as Chair of NACDL’s CLE Institute, the quality and quantity of NACDL’s educational programs increased tremendously,” Lavine said.
An active proponent of sentencing reform, Bill serves on the Hamilton County Policy and Structure Committee, which addresses issues involved in the criminal justice system of Hamilton County, and on the Board of Directors of Ohioans to Stop Executions. A founding member of the Ohio Innocence Project, he is also the federal Criminal Justice Act Panel Representative for the Southern District of Ohio and a commissioner on the Hamilton County Public Defender Commission. In 2002, he was appointed by the Governor to the Ohio Sentencing Commission, where he served for seven years. Bill teaches as an adjunct professor at University of Cincinnati Law School, and has done so for the past ten years. He has also taught at DePaul Law School as an adjunct professor.
Congratulations Bill!