Six Cornell Law School alumni received 2007 Exemplary Public Service Awards Feb. 8 at a Cornell Club reception in New York City.

The alumni, who won the awards for putting public interest foremost in their work, continue the law school's tradition of producing "lawyers in the best sense."

"These alumni represent people and issues that otherwise lack meaningful representation in the legal system," said law school Assistant Dean Karen Comstock. "They believe in the power of law and the ideal of equal protection."

The winners were:

• David S. Buckel '87 of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund in New York City, for his litigation resulting in the new civil union law for gay couples in New Jersey and for his work against anti-gay harassment and violence in public schools.
• Gitanjali Gutierrez '01 of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City, for her advocacy for indefinitely detained prisoners at Guantánamo.
• Douglas Lasdon '81 of the Urban Justice Center in New York City, for his representation of the urban homeless.
• Albert Meyerhoff '72 of Lerach, Coughlin, Stoia, Geller, Rudman and Robbins LLP in Los Angeles, for his work protecting laborers from pesticide contamination and sweatshop labor conditions.
• Stephen Myers '71 of the Legal Aid Society in Brooklyn, N.Y., for his fight for adequate housing for the working poor.
• Patricia Warth '96 of Prisoners' Legal Services in Buffalo, N.Y., for her advocacy of prisoners' rights.

Eight members of the Class of 2007 also were honored at the event. Ariel Harman, Charlotte Lanvers and Justin Pfeiffer were awarded the Freeman Award for Civil-Human Rights; Lara Newmark, Kristen Stanley and Moriah Radin were awarded the Stanley E. Gould Prize for Public Interest Law; and Miles Norton and Evan Parness were awarded the Seymour Herzog Memorial Prize.