April 24, 2002

Attorney Thomas E. Kennedy, III Receives Clarence Darrow Award at Saint Louis University

ST. LOUIS -- The Public Interest Law Group at Saint Louis University School of Law has awarded the annual Clarence Darrow Award to local civil rights attorney Thomas E. Kennedy, III.

Kennedy, who has law offices in Alton, Illinois, practices in Missouri, Illinois, and throughout the Midwest. He represents people with disabilities in housing and employment discrimination actions. Kennedy also represents organizations that serve the disabled and families trying to obtain the appropriate special education services for their children.

Kennedy received his B.A. from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and his law degree from the University of Illinois College of Law. He is a graduate of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy and serves as an adjunct professor at Saint Louis University School of Law.

Prior to beginning his own practice, Mr. Kennedy worked at Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation in East St. Louis, Illinois. He handled several notable cases there, including Baxter v. City of Belleville, the first case to hold that the Fair Housing Act prohibited a city’s exclusion of a group home for people with AIDS.

Recently, Mr. Kennedy has won or settled numerous cases that will allow group homes for people with disabilities to operate in various parts of the area.

He has also pursued legal action against the East St. Louis School Board for the condition of schools in that district.He is the author of several articles on education law and disability rights law, and lectures nationwide on legal issues regarding education and vocational rehabilitation.

The Darrow Award is given each year by the Public Interest Law Group, a student organization, to an attorney or judge whose career has displayed a commitment to public service. Past recipients include Federal Judge Clyde S. Cahill, Jack Greenberg of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

This year’s ceremony, which was attended by numerous attorneys, judges and family and friends of Mr. Kennedy, took place at the Saint Louis University School of Law on April 3.