The American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) recently granted its Courageous Advocacy Award to Mr. Gao Zhisheng, a famous human rights lawyer in Beijing, announced Dr. Zhang Xuerong, spokeswoman for The Global Coalition in Support of Attorney Gao Zhisheng, today.
Mr. Alan I. Dunst, chair of the Awards Committee at ABOTA wrote in his letter to Gao Zhisheng that "In 1999 the American Board of Trial Advocates instituted the Courageous Advocacy Award to give special recognition to a Judge or Advocate, anywhere in the world, who demonstrates particular courage in the performance of duty, who has believed in and prosecuted a strict adherence to the Rule of Law, even at great risk to personal freedom and safety. My committee has reviewed much of your work, as reported in ChinaScope magazine and The Epoch Times, and your courage in standing up against human rights abuses in China has demonstrated that you are precisely the type of lawyer that the Courageous Advocacy Award was established to honor."
Mr. Dunst continued in the letter, "We would like to extend an invitation for you to be our guest at the Bacara Resort in Santa Barbara, California on the evening of our National Board of Directors Meeting, June 30, 2007 for the Award Presentation. While we understand that it might be difficult for you to appear, we would be humbled by your presence. If this is not possible, we would be honored to make this presentation to your designee. Once again on behalf of ABOTA, thank you for the wonderful work you have done."
Dr. Zhang added that, "This award to Mr. Gao Zhisheng demonstrates that lawyers in the US are supportive of him. This is an honor to Mr. Gao that he deserves. It is also a matter of pride for all of us that support lawyer Gao Zhisheng. We hope people in all walks of life would pay close attention to Gao and his family."
ABOTA is an organization of legal professionals dedicated to "Justice by the People." There are over 90 chapters in the U.S. with a membership of 6,300. The mission of ABOTA is to foster improvement in the ethical and technical standards of practice in the field of advocacy to the end that individual litigants may receive more effective representation and the general public be benefited by more efficient administration of justice consistent with time-tested and traditional principles of litigation.
