Boston, MA – To recognize extraordinary efforts in helping a client recover significant financial losses resulting from the misuse of funds by an attorney, Supreme Judicial Court Justice Francis X. Spina will present the seventh annual Clients' Security Board's William J. LeDoux Award to Boston Attorneys Hang Nina Nguyen and Hung Tran.

           Ms. Nguyen is the managing partner of the Law Office of Hang Nina Nguyen in Dorchester, and Mr. Tran is a sole practitioner in Dorchester.

           The event will be held in the Seven-Justice Courtroom in the John Adams Courthouse on Thursday, September 22, 2005 at 3:00 p.m. This year's program also marks the Clients' Security Board's thirty years of service.

           Established in 1997 in honor of the late William J. LeDoux, a member of the Clients' Security Board from 1987 to 1997, the award is presented annually to honor an attorney who, serving pro bono, performs outstanding legal work in representing a claimant before the Board. Mr. LeDoux, who was Chair of the Board for seven years, is known for his many achievements in advancing the Board's goal of serving the public.

          Two attorneys were selected by the Clients' Security Board as this year's award recipients for the work they performed on behalf of Vietnamese immigrants who had entrusted funds to a lawyer, and discovered, upon his death, that funds were missing. Many of the clients who were Vietnamese did not speak English, and, because of cultural mores, were reluctant to suggest their lawyer had misappropriated their funds. Ms. Nguyen and Mr. Tran, and other Vietnamese lawyers, met with members of the Clients' Security Board at the Vietnamese American Community Center in Dorchester and asked for help. Through the efforts of Ms. Nguyen and Mr. Tran, a community meeting was held in May 2003 at the Community Center to introduce potential claimants. From December 2003 through May 2005, the Board held hearings on more than fifty claims and voted forty-seven awards totaling $1,185,359. The two attorneys provided translation and interpreting services for the Board and for claimants.

          Ms. Nguyen was an associate in the Boston law firm of Boone & Henkoff prior to starting her own practice. Previously, she worked as public relations coordinator at the Massachusetts Office for Refugees and Immigrants. She also held internships at the Office for Refugees and Immigrants and in the Asian Outreach Program of Greater Boston Legal Services. She is president of the Vietnamese American Initiative for Development. Ms. Nguyen holds a J.D. degree from Suffolk University Law School, a B.A. degree from Tufts University, and attended the School for International Training at Ho Chi Minh University in Saigon.

           Before entering private practice, Mr. Tran served as assistant regional counsel in the Office of General Counsel of the Social Security Administration and as an assistant attorney general in the Government Bureau of the Massachusetts Attorney General. A graduate of Suffolk University Law School, Mr. Tran received his B.A. degree, cum laude, from Boston College.

           Established by the Supreme Judicial Court in 1974, the Clients' Security Board is composed of seven attorneys appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court who oversee the disbursement of funds to clients who have been victimized by attorney defalcation. Through a portion of the annual registration fees paid by attorneys to the Board of Bar Overseers, the Clients' Security Board reimburses clients who have been victimized by instances of attorney misappropriations.