FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | December 30, 2008

National Center for Lesbian Rights Legal Director Shannon Minter Named among Lawyers of the Year by Lawyers USA

(San Francisco, CA, December 30, 2008) — The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) today announced that Lawyers USA has named National Center for Lesbian Rights Legal Director Shannon Price Minter as one of six 2008 lawyers of the year. In the announcement of the honorees, Lawyers USA said, “The attorneys selected as Lawyers of the Year for 2008 include an attorney who won a landmark case allowing gay couples in California to marry, a lawyer who recently argued his 50th case before the U.S. Supreme Court and the president-elect of the United States. All had major accomplishments that make them worthy of the title ‘Lawyer of the Year.’

"Everyone at NCLR, including our board and donors, are delighted by this well-deserved recognition for our legal director, Shannon Price Minter," said NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell. "Everyone who works with Shannon knows him to be tirelessly committed to full equality and justice for every LGBT person in this country."

Minter has guided NCLR’s litigation and program work for over 10 years. He has been lead counsel in dozens of groundbreaking legal victories, including the California marriage case and Sharon Smith’s unprecedented victory in her wrongful death lawsuit. In 2005, he was one of 18 people to receive the Ford Foundation’s "Leadership for a Changing World" award. In 2004, he was awarded an Honorary Degree from the City University of New York School of Law for his advocacy on behalf of same-sex couples and their families. Minter has also received the Anderson Prize Foundation’s Creating Change Award by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the Distinguished National Service Award from GAYLAW, the bar association for LGBT lawyers, Cornell Law School’s Exemplary Public Service Award, the Unity Award from Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, the Advocacy Award from the San Francisco Bar Association, and the Justice Award from Equality California.

Minter has authored numerous articles and books on LGBT legal issues, including Transgender Rights (University of Minnesota Press, 2006) and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Family Law (West Publishing, 2008). He has taught as an adjunct or associate professor at Boalt, Stanford, Golden Gate, Santa Clara, and the University of San Francisco Schools of Law.

Minter received his J.D. from Cornell Law School in 1993.