The American Bar Association (ABA) has selected William “Billy” Edwards as the 2025 winner of the Paul G. Hearne Award for Disability Rights. A member of the FASD United Board of Directors, Edwards is a Deputy Public Defender in the Neurocognitive Disorders Unit of the Office of the Los Angeles County, California, Public Defender, and a leading authority on the legal issues surrounding FASD. 

Paul G. Hearne, the award’s namesake, was an activist, philanthropist, and a leader for all people with disabilities and a pioneer in advancing their cause. The ABA presents the award annually to an individual for performing exemplary service in furthering the rights, dignity, and access to justice for people with disabilities. 

Edwards earned the recognition for dedicating his professional career and much of his personal time and resources to increasing awareness of FASD in the justice system and educating legal professionals to effectively advocate for individuals living with intellectual disabilities in legal proceedings. 

Since his first lecture in 1997 in Lafayette, Louisiana, for the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Mr. Edwards has organized and led almost 200 FASD trainings throughout the United States and in eight countries and consulted with attorneys in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and England. 

Prior to working in Los Angeles, Mr. Edwards worked on capital habeas appeals in Florida, and a paper he co-authored on people with intellectual disabilities on death row in the United States was published in the Journal of Mental Retardation and has been cited broadly, including before the Supreme Court of the United States in Atkins v. Virginia. 

In 2001, Mr. Edwards was part of a legal team assembled by the International Association for the Scientific Studies of Intellectual Disabilities representing Johnny Paul Penry a death row inmate in Texas. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that Penry should be re-sentenced, and he received a life term.  

While serving two terms on the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities, Edwards became increasingly focused on FASD. In 2011, he was appointed editor of a landmark two-volume issue of the Journal of Psychiatry and Law entirely focused on the legal aspects of FASD. 

Edwards frequently calls on and receives pro bono support for his clients from FASD United, clinicians, scientists, legal professionals and advocates, and other experts to help courts understand the merits of mitigation and alternative sentencing for people living with disabilities. As a result, he has had numerous clients avoid incarceration and instead receive life-changing services from the California Regional Centers. 

In 2023, Mr. Edwards was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Through three years of constant and often debilitating treatment, he has continued to selflessly serve the disability community as a public defender, educator, and advocate. 

The ABA will formally present the award to Edwards in 2026.