"I'm thrilled and grateful to be recognized for the work that we do at Lambda Legal," said Camilla Taylor. "ACS works to ensure the integrity and independence of the courts and a faithful and fair interpretation of the Constitution, two elements essential for lawyers engaged in a struggle for civil rights and social justice."

Camilla Taylor is the lead attorney in Darby v. Orr, an Illinois case launched in May of this year seeking marriage for same-sex couples. She was also the lead attorney in Varnum v. Brien, the historic case in Iowa that won the freedom to marry for same-sex couples in 2009. She has been an attorney with Lambda Legal since 2002 and became Marriage Project Director in 2011.

"Camilla is a brilliant mind and compassionate attorney," said Jim Bennett, Regional Director for the Midwest Regional Office of Lambda Legal. "Her client-based approach shapes her legal arguments, and her successes have helped to transform the legal landscape to include the LGBT community in our country's promise of equality. She is an extraordinary leader in Chicago and recognized in the Midwest and beyond — a legend indeed."

Other recipients of a 2012 Legal Legends Award include Carol Brook, Executive Director, Federal Defender Program for the Northern District of Illinois, Scott R. Lassar, Partner, Sidley Austin LLP, Geoffrey R. Stone, Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago Law School; Member, ACS National Board of Directors, and The Honorable Mary Jane Theis, Justice, Illinois Supreme Court

The American Constitution Society works for positive change by shaping debate on vitally important legal and constitutional issues through development and promotion of high-impact ideas to opinion leaders and the media; by building networks of lawyers, law students, judges and policymakers dedicated to those ideas; and by countering the activist conservative legal movement that has sought to erode our enduring constitutional values.

Established in 2008, the Ruth Goldman Award honors a woman in the Chicago legal community who has made significant contributions to advance the status of women in the legal profession and the goals of ACS.

The award is named in honor of Ruth Goldman, a Chicagoan earned her J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1947. Ms. Goldman served as a member of the Chicago and Women's Bar Associations and on the Professional Advisory Committee of the Jewish Federation of Chicago, and was a staff attorney to the Legal Aid Department of the Jewish Family and Community Service. Ms. Goldman was pivotal in the founding of the ACS Chicago Lawyer Chapter and was one of the founders of our Legal Legends Luncheon. Ms. Goldman passed away in August 2008 at the age of 87.

All awards were presented at the 2012 Legal Legends Luncheon on Wednesday, July 11, 2012 Union League Club of Chicago,65 West Jackson Boulevard, in Chicago, IL.