2024 Awardees

2024 Promoting Excellence Award Honorees

NACC presents the Promoting Excellence Awards annually to individuals and organizations making significant contributions to the rights and well-being of children and families through excellence in legal representation.


Outstanding Legal Advocate

Aubrey Edwards-Luce, JD, MSW

Executive Director, Center for Families, Children and the Courts, University of Baltimore School of Law

For 15 years, Aubrey Edwards Luce has advocated for justice alongside children and families as an attorney, policy advocate, leader, and organizer. Many nominators noted Aubrey’s dedication to collaboration, client-centered practice, anti-racist representation, and holding systems to their duties to children and families. After graduating law school, she joined the Children’s Law Center of DC and conducted policy advocacy in child welfare law and as part of coalitions addressing the needs of youth who have experienced homelessness, commercial and sexual exploitation, or being away from home. Her policy work continued at First Focus, where she pushed for federal policies and investments that prioritize children and families. In 2020, she conceived the Child Welfare and Race Equity (CWARE) Collaborative, a network of lived experience experts who reimagine a child welfare system based on family integrity and child safety rather than family regulation. In her current role, she leads the Tackling Chronic Absenteeism Progam and leverages her expertise as an active member of the Hidden Foster Care Coalition. As two of her nominators wrote: “Aubrey’s energy and drive when it comes to helping families is neverending… Aubrey’s care for the people in the many communities she is a part of is evident from the minute you meet her. More importantly, it is demonstrated in her every action, personal and professional. We cannot think of a more deserving recipient.”

Read nomination documents for Aubrey Edwards-Luce.

Outstanding New Lawyer

Adreain Reynolds, Esq.

Staff Attorney, North Mississippi Rural Legal Services, Inc.

Since 2021, Attorney Adreain Reynolds has provided zealous representation to children and parents experiencing the child welfare system in 15 counties in North Mississippi. Working in a system that has far more people in need of representation than attorneys who can provide it, Adreain commits as much time as possible to represent as many families as she can. Inspired by her own personal experience, Adreain’s efforts have reunited families, ensured children receive proper medical care, and improved the lives of clients protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Nominators describe her as an advocate with grit, grace, passion, and fearlessness. Adreain’s work is exemplary of the enormous positive impact a dedicated lawyer can have in the lives of their clients. Her advocacy raises the bar for the next generation of advocates.

Read nomination documents for Adreain Reynolds.


Outstanding Law Student

Michelle Pappas, JD, MSW

University of South Carolina School of Law

Michelle Pappas began her post-graduate studies pursuing a master’s degree in social work, working with children and families facing poverty, homelessness, domestic violence, and challenges related to disabilites and documentation. Michelle enrolled in the University of South Carolina’s dual degree program to obtain a law degree to pursue systems-level change to help families. During law school, she was an intern, extern, and law clerk for the Children’s Law Center, where she collected public testimony and conducted national research on children’s issues. She designed, created, and implemented a training course on adolescent development for South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice correctional staff. Michelle also served as President of the Children’s Advocacy Law Society, formalizing its status as an NACC student chapter, and she was involved in many law school organizations related to public policy and pro bono work. During her final months of law school, Michelle pursued funding so future law students can explore careers advocating for children. Additionally, Michelle volunteered and led projects and fundraisers to benefit people in need, among other academic and community activities. Her many nominators describe her as a natural leader who supports and sets an example for people around her, and who saw her education as an opportunity to become the best advocate she could be. One nominator wrote Michelle is one of the most impressive law students you will ever meet. Another wrote: “Seeing Michelle’s passion combined with her ability is inspiring and gives me hope for the future of this specialized area of law.”

Read nomination documents for Michelle Pappas.

Outstanding Children’s law office

Legal Counsel for Youth and Children

Rhea Yo, Executive Director, Erin Lovell, Founder and Special Counsel

Since 2010, Legal Counsel for Youth and Children has provided holistic representation to young people experiencing the child welfare system, the juvenile legal system, and other legal challenges in Washington State. Having grown from a single attorney – founding executive director Erin Lovell – to a team of 16, LCYC works remotely across multiple counties to meet children where they are, center the client in the advocacy, and reach traditionally marginalized populations. LCYC works across systems to address the legal needs of some of the most vulnerable young people in Washington, including LGBTQIA+ people, youth experiencing homelessness, immigrants, youth with disabilities, people who speak a language other than English, and others. The large number of supporting nominations NACC received from community partners in Washington reflects how LCYC has become an essential legal lifeline for young people in need, and also how LCYC’s expertise, partnership, and legal advocacy elevate the quality of care youth receive across organizations. Additionally, LCYC has been at the forefront of legislative efforts, including the passage and implementation of landmark 2021 legislation expanding right to counsel for young people in Washington State. LCYC’s holistic, anti-racist, community-based, client-centered approach is a leading example of NACC’s Recommendations for Legal Representation in practice. As founding executive director Erin Lovell steps down this summer, NACC is pleased to celebrate her, LCYC, and the positive impact it has made on the lives of thousands of young people across Washington.

Read nomination documents for LCYC.

President’s Award

NYU Law Family Defense Clinic 

Christine Gottlieb, Director

NACC’s President’s Award recognizes excellence in advocacy organizations working to advance the legal rights of children and parents.   

NACC President LaShanda Taylor Adams chose the NYU Family Defense Clinic to honor and recognize its exceptional dedication to preserving family integrity while molding the next generation of public interest lawyers. The clinic’s innovative and compassionate approach not only provides immediate legal relief to those in need but also works toward long-term systemic changes that benefit the broader community. By addressing both individual cases and overarching policy issues, the clinic plays a pivotal role in creating a more just and equitable child welfare system. 

The Family Defense Clinic’s impact can also be measured by the long-lasting influence it has had on the students who pass through its doors. These students go on to become passionate advocates for justice, equipped with the knowledge and experience needed to effect meaningful change in the legal system.  Congratulations to Professor Christine Gottlieb, Emeritus Professor Marty Guggenheim, and all of the clinical professors and students who provided legal representation to families in New York.