CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY VINCENT WARREN HONORED BY NYS BAR WITH 2016 HAYWOOD BURNS AWARD

ALBANY, NY (01/28/2016)(readMedia)-- Civil rights attorney Vincent Warren has been awarded the New York State Bar Association's Haywood Burns Memorial Award. He received the award during the State Bar Association's Annual Meeting in New York City on January 28.

"Tirelessly advocating for social justice and equality through the rule of law, Vincent has made our country more inclusive and egalitarian," said Diana Sagorika Sen of New York City, chair of the Committee on Civil Rights.

Warren is the executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a New York City-based national legal and educational organization dedicated to advancing and

protecting the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations.

He oversees litigation and advocacy work that includes using international and domestic law to hold corporations and government officials accountable for human rights abuses; challenges racial, gender and LGBT injustice; and combats the expansion of U.S. presidential power and policies, such as detention at Guantánamo Bay, rendition and torture.

Prior to joining CCR, Warren was a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, where he litigated Gratz v. Bollinger, a companion case to the Supreme Court's landmark decision upholding affirmative action in college admissions; and White v. Martz, instrumental

in establishing the first statewide public defender system in Montana.

As a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society, he monitored the hearings of the historic Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa.

Warren received degrees from Haverford College and Rutgers School of Law. His articles on constitutional and human rights law have been featured in the New York Times and Huffington Post.

The Haywood Burns Memorial Award is given to honor the late civil rights lawyer and academic, Dean W. Haywood Burns. From the age of 15 until his death at age 55 while visiting South Africa, the former head of the City University of New York School of Law was active in seeking to expand the civil rights of all people.

The award recognizes an individual who has contributed to New York state in a manner that reflects Burns' commitment to the struggle for justice and the qualities that made him an outstanding advocate for civil rights and the empowerment of the powerless.

The New York State Bar Association, with 74,000 members, is the largest voluntary state bar association in the country. It was founded in 1876.

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