AT ITS ANNUAL Dinner on May 22, the NH Bar Foundation will present its prestigious Frank Rowe Kenison Award to Ronald K. Lospennato, the legal director of the Disabilities Rights Center, Inc., who has dedicated his entire career to legal aid. The Kenison Award is given annually in recognition of an individual’s contributions to strengthening the justice system in New Hampshire.

Lospennato has worked at the Disabilities Rights Center since 1979, when he was hired as a staff attorney, then the only lawyer on the staff of five. In 1987, he became the legal director of DRC, the position he holds today.

The DRC was established pursuant to federal law to protect and advocate for the rights of persons with disabilities and currently has a staff of 23, including 10 lawyers.

Lospennato has been working in public interest law for almost 30 years. From 1973 to 1975, prior to attending law school, he worked as a welfare advocate at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, a Legal Services Corporation back-up center. While a law student at Franklin Pierce Law Center, he worked part-time and full-time during summers at New Hampshire Legal Assistance, in its Civil Branch Unit, doing legal research and maintaining his own caseload. He authored and co-authored pamphlets on welfare rights and elderly rights and services for NHLA and also worked on NHLA’s Senior Citizens Law Project.

Lospennato graduated from Pierce Law in 1978 and went to work as a staff attorney for Vermont Legal Aid, having obtained that position as a Reginald Hebert Smith Community Lawyer Fellow. He worked for Vermont Legal Aid until 1979, when he joined the DRC.

As DRC’s legal director, Lospennato oversees all legal work of the organization, supervising the staff attorneys, case advocates, law students and interns. He also represents individuals with disabilities and handles all aspects of litigation on behalf of those individuals, including appearing before federal and state trial and appellate courts and administrative agencies.

In addition to his work at DRC, Lospennato is active on a number of committees and boards concerned with the rights of those with disabilities, including being a member of the board of directors of the NH Brain Injury Association, member and past chair of the NHBA Mental and Physical Disabilities Law Section, past member and chair of the Legal Committee of the National Association of Protection and Advocacy programs, and past chair of the board of the Granite State Independent Living Foundation.

John E. Tobin, Jr., the executive director of New Hampshire Legal Assistance and a member of the Kenison Award nominating committee, said that recognition of Lospennato’s contributions to strengthening the justice system in NH is long overdue. "The committee decided it was time to recognize Ron for his very long career of devotion to equal justice. He has worked at DRC since its early days and has done an amazing number of things for people. He is an unsung hero," said Tobin.

Tobin went on to say that like previous Kenison Award winners, Lospennato is "persistent and has a really steadfast, deep devotion to justice and fairness for vulnerable people."

"He has been a strong legal advocate for the disabled in state and federal court, in school districts – all over the place. He has fought for disabled people and disabled children; people who otherwise wouldn’t have a voice."

Marty Sink, executive director of Court Appointed Special Advocates-NH and another member of the nominating committee, said she sees Lospennato as someone who has quietly dedicated his career to legal representation of an underserved population, like other Kenison Award winners before him. "He has committed his professional career to serving a population of people who need strong advocacy and in his unassuming way has been such a strong advocate for this population," she said.

Lospennato said that he was "grateful and proud" to be named this year’s Kenison Award winner. He said that his career in legal services has its own rewards, but being recognized for his work by his peers is a special honor. "Legal services is rewarding work in terms of making sure your clients get what they’re entitled to and protecting their rights. It’s gratifying when others recognize the importance of this work, and when your peers honor you, it’s very rewarding," he said.

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