Dunne of Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP honored

John Dunne, senior counsel with Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP, the Capital Region's largest law firm, was honored by the U.S. Department of Justice - Civil Rights Division with the establishment of the John R. Dunne Award. The award recognizes attorneys or other division professionals who have furthered the cause of civil rights through non-litigation activities. The John R. Dunne Award was presented for the first time at a recent Civil Rights Division Awards Ceremony. The purpose of the award is to recognize a career Division attorney or non-attorney professional or a team that has furthered the cause of civil rights through non-litigation activities, including but not limited to outreach, public education, legislative drafting and technical assistance. Dunne was the Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division from 1990 to 1993. Prior to joining the firm, Dunne had a long and distinguished career in a variety of federal, state, and local government positions. Dunne was a member of the New York State Senate from 1966 to 1989, where he served as Deputy Majority Leader (1987-1988), chair of the Judiciary Committee, and Chair of the Joint Legislative Committee on Crime and Corrections. During his tenure he was an advocate for the merit selection of judges and court restructuring, and he sponsored legislation that resulted in amending the State Constitution to create an appointive system for Court of Appeals judges and established the Commission on Judicial Conduct. From 1990 until 1993, Dunne was the assistant attorney general for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he was in charge of the enforcement of all federal civil rights laws. As a private citizen, Dunne has served as Chair of the New York State Capital Defender Office, Chair of the Task Force on the Future of Probation; a member of the Commission on the Future of Indigent Defense Services; and organizer of the Campaign for Effective Criminal Justice and is a director of Prisoners' Legal Services of New York. As senior counsel at Whiteman Osterman & Hanna, Dunne concentrates his practice on environmental, government relations, litigation, arbitration and mediation.