Leafleting for rallies against racism and apartheid and defending students in university trials for civil disobedience, Lisa Daugaard fell in love with the thrill of legal proceedings. Now an attorney for the Defender Association, an organization that aggressively defends poor and low-income people, she has turned her passion into a career. She works tirelessly, and with 350 cases a year, she closes two cases every work day. She fought against the moving of pre-trial defendants to an unsafe and inadequate Yakima County Jail, and raised important questions about the Seattle Police Departments’ narcotics arrests that disproportionately net African Americans. “If we aren’t willing to do it to everyone, it’s not a good policy,” explains Daugaard. She is especially proud of helping change the predicament of drivers whose licenses were suspended because they couldn’t pay traffic tickets; many workers need a license to get or keep a job. Cooperating with the city, she helped establish a timed payment plan that allows the license to remain valid while payments are being made. “The city gets more money,” she says, “and it ends the cycle of poverty.”

—Dena Burke