THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

( Washington, DC, August 12, 2011 ) — The National LGBT Bar Association has named Lambda Legal Staff Attorneys Tara Borelli and Dru Levasseur to its Class of 2011 Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40 Award.

"This is a great and well-deserved honor for Tara and Dru, who have truly distinguished themselves as preeminent legal advocates for the LGBT community," said Lambda Legal Legal Director Jon Davidson. "Tara's success preserving domestic partner benefits for Arizona government employees in same-sex relationships and Dru's contributions to the 7th Circuit's ruling establishing the constitutional right of incarcerated transgender individuals to medically necessary care are two of the most recent demonstrations of why they've earned this recognition. We are proud of the brilliant, cutting edge work they both are doing."

"We also want to congratulate the other recipients of this distinction, many of whom are our close colleagues and friends and, in particular, Nancy Polikoff, who is this year's recipient of the Dan Bradley Award. Nancy is a visionary scholar and advocate. She has led the way in the efforts to make second-parent adoptions widely available, to secure custody and visitation rights for those whose parental roles previously were not legally recognized, and to advance the rights of unmarried couples," added Davidson, who was last years' recipient of the Dan Bradley Award.

Borelli, Levasseur and the other honorees will be recognized at the National LGBT Bar Association's 2011 Lavender Law Conference, to be held this year in Hollywood, CA, from September 8-10.