2007 Recipient

Randall S. Rapp

Throughout his 30-year legal career, Randy Rapp has been committed to ensuring that underserved populations have access to legal counsel.  In the early 1980’s, Randy was the driving force behind the creation of a program to assist indigent Haitian refugees by mobilizing members of the CBA’s Young Lawyers Section (YLS) to provide pro bono representation to the refugees in their immigration cases.  As a result of their experiences with this program, Randy and other advocates saw the need for a permanent pro bono project to provide legal representation to immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.  Using his ties to the YLS, Randy was a leader in the creation of the organization now known as the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC).  Today, NIJC serves 8,000 clients from over 90 countries each year with the help of approximately 700 pro bono attorneys. 

Randy is the Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary for Woods Equipment Company and has acted as pro bono counsel on the legal team for a number of landmark immigration cases.  Many of the pro bono cases he has undertaken have often been marathon cases, some lasting as long as 8 years.  When Randy transitioned from private practice to in-house counsel in 2000, his pro bono commitment did not waver.  He remains involved in monitoring detention conditions and treatment of immigrants held in administrative custody and continues to encourage other attorneys to do pro bono work. 

Randy has drawn thousands of people to pro bono work by engaging both their hearts and minds.  In addition to the many attorneys he has inspired, his son John and daughter Hannah have continued their father’s work with NIJC and have become important advocates on behalf of NIJC’s clients.