Rick Jones Receives Champion of Justice Award From National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

Jones Teaches a Trial Practice Seminar and Leads the Community Defense Externship at Columbia Law School

New York, September 8, 2014—Rick Jones, a distinguished trial lawyer who leads Columbia Law School’s Community Defense Externship and teaches a Trial Practice seminar, has been honored by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL).

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Jones received the organization’s Champion of Justice Award  from the Foundation for Criminal Justice at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on August 1, 2014. The award recognizes individuals who—through legislative, journalistic, or humanitarian pursuits—endeavor to ensure justice and due process for the accused. Jones is the executive director and a founding member of Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, a community-based holistic public defense practice.
 
Through Columbia Law School’s Community Defense Externship, Jones offers up to 12 students the opportunity to learn about and experience the practice of indigent criminal defense in a holistic community-based setting through a combination of lecture, discussion, research, writing, mooting and direct client representation of residents of Northern Manhattan facing criminal charges in New York County Supreme Court.