A health care advocate who has dedicated his career to representing low-income clients, the elderly, disabled and uninsured has been selected as the winner of the 2009 Morris Dees Justice Award.

Gordon Bonnyman Jr., co-founder of the Tennessee Justice Center, will be presented the award at a Nov. 12 reception in New York City at the Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom law offices.

The renowned international law firm partnered with the University of Alabama School of Law in 2006 to create the award in honor of Dees, an Alabama graduate, for his lifelong dedication to public service. It is given annually to a lawyer who has devoted his or her career to serving the public interest and pursuing justice, and whose work has brought about positive change in the community, state or nation.

The first award recipient, in 2006, was U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice of the Eastern District of Texas. The 2007 winner was Arthur N. Read, general counsel for Friends of Farmworkers Inc., based in Philadelphia. Last year's award recipient was Cheryl Little, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, located in Miami.

Bonnyman, the 2009 recipient, is known as one of the top health law theoreticians and practitioners in the country. After graduating from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1972, he began his career with the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and The Cumberlands.

In 1996, in response to new lobbying restrictions placed on legal services organizations, he founded the Tennessee Justice Center (TJC) with fellow attorney Michele Johnson. He initially worked without a salary until additional funding could be secured.

A seasoned and successful litigator, he is also an accomplished legislative advocate and policy analyst. He lobbied for nursing home regulatory reform in Tennessee, which was adopted in 1987. Bonnyman and the TJC have been personally attacked by state officials and other entrenched powers in Tennessee – the nursing home industry, the hospital industry and the health insurance industry. Despite the attacks, Bonnyman has never wavered in his commitment to justice for Tennesseans who are poor, ill, disabled or imprisoned.

Skadden is known for its premier corporate practice in New York and around the globe, as well as its support of public interest law and service.

Dees is a 1960 graduate of the University of Alabama School of Law. He co-founded the Southern Poverty Law Center in 1971 with Joe Levin, also an Alabama graduate. Dees serves as the SPLC's chief trial counsel.

More information about the award is available at www.morrisdeesaward.com.