Wave Wire Services
LOS ANGELES — Former Vice President Kamala Harris and actress Rita Moreno will be April 29 at Public Counsel’s annual awards event in Beverly Hills.
Harris will receive the William O. Douglas Award, while Moreno will be presented with the Trailblazer in the Arts Award during the event, which recognizes contributions to public service, justice and the arts, according to organizers.
The annual dinner is expected to draw more than 1,000 leaders from the legal, business, political and entertainment communities in support of Public Counsel, a nonprofit public interest law firm, organizers said.
“Vice President Harris has dedicated her career to fighting for the people — from her service to the state of California to her historic tenure as vice president of the United States,” Public Counsel President and CEO Kathryn Eidmann said in a statement. “Her leadership has helped advance civil rights, expand opportunity, and uphold equal justice and dignity for all.”
Past honorees include Jane Fonda, Nancy Pelosi, Viola Davis, John Legend, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Elie Wiesel and the Rev. James M. Lawson Jr., among others.
Harris, who served as the nation’s 49th vice president from 2021 to 2025, previously worked as San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general and a U.S. senator.
Moreno is being recognized for a career spanning more than eight decades across film, television and stage. She has received numerous honors, including an Academy Award, multiple Emmy Awards, a Tony Award and a Grammy, making her one of the few performers to achieve EGOT status.
“Her extraordinary contributions to American culture have been recognized with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award and the prestigious Peabody Award,” according to the organization. “She continues to work across film and television, further cementing her legacy as a trailblazer in the arts.”
The event will also honor Davis Wright Tremaine LLP with the Law Firm Pro Bono Award for its legal work on behalf of vulnerable communities.
Actor Jason George and attorney Tanya Acker are scheduled to serve as emcees.
Organizers said poet Amanda Gorman is set to perform, and actor Uzo Aduba will present the Douglas Award to Harris.
Public Counsel, based in Los Angeles, provides legal services and advocacy focused on civil rights and economic justice.
