Office of Alumni Engagement
The Office of Alumni Engagement at Â鶹Porn looks forward to getting to know our alumni and friends. We invite you to contact us with any questions or comments you may have about your alma mater and the Alumni Association, volunteer opportunities, or programming.
Alumni Spotlight
William "Billy" Edwards, ’85: A Legal Pioneer Advancing Justice for People with FASD and Intellectual Disabilities
William "Billy" Edwards is internationally recognized as a pioneering legal advocate and educator whose work has transformed how the justice system understands fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and intellectual disabilities. For nearly three decades, Edwards has led efforts to ensure that courts, attorneys, and policymakers respond to neurodevelopmental disabilities with knowledge, fairness, and compassion.
Edwards first emerged as a leader in this field in 1997, when he delivered one of the earliest legal trainings on FASD to the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Since that time, he has organized and led nearly 200 FASD trainings and consulted with attorneys around the United States and in several countries worldwide.
A Deputy Public Defender with the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office for more than 24 years, Edwards currently serves in the Los Angeles County Mental Health Court and the office's Neurocognitive Disorders Unit, representing clients with serious mental illness and neurodevelopmental and neurocognitive disorders. Prior to joining the Los Angeles office, he worked on capital habeas appeals in Florida. He co-authored a piece in the Journal of Mental Retardation that was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in Atkins v. Virginia, the landmark decision exempting people with intellectual disabilities from the death penalty.
Edwards' national policy impact includes two terms on the President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities, a federal advisory body established to advise the President and the Secretary of Health and Human Services. During his service, Edwards became increasingly focused on FASD and launched a series of attorney trainings that continue today. In 2011, he served as editor of a landmark two-volume issue of the Journal of Psychiatry and Law devoted entirely to the legal aspects of FASD.
He has also played a major leadership role within professional and advocacy organizations. Edwards helped draft and secure adoption of a 2012 American Bar Association resolution urging all criminal justice professionals to be informed about FASD. He served on the Board of Directors of FASD United from 2014 to 2022 and was reappointed beginning in January 2025. He is the founder and current chair of FASD United's Justice Advisory Committee and has previously served on the board of the Disability Rights Legal Center in Los Angeles.
His contributions have been widely recognized. in 2014, Edwards received the Dr. Ann Streissguth Annual Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Field of FASD and the Law and was inducted into the Tom and Linda Daschle FASD Hall of Fame. On December 1, 2025, the American Bar Association announced Edwards as the recipient of its prestigious Paul G. Hearne Award for Disability Rights, honoring exemplary service in advancing the rights, dignity, and access to justice for people disabilities. The ABA cited his lifelong dedication to educating legal professionals, increasing awareness of FASD, and advocating for individuals with intellectual disabilities throughout the justice system. The award will be formally presented in September 2026.
Edwards is also known for building multidisciplinary pro bono collaborations among clinicians, scientists, legal professionals, and advocates to help courts understand mitigation and appropriate alternatives to incarceration. As a result of this work, many of his clients have avoided incarceration and instead received critical, life-changing services through California Regional Centers.
Through litigation, scholarship, policy work, and global education, Billy Edwards has fundamentally reshaped legal understanding of FASD and intellectual disabilities, leaving an enduring impact on the pursuit of justice for some of the most vulnerable individuals in the legal system.
Contact Alumni Engagement
Office of Alumni Engagement
Â鶹Porn
4501 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21210
Phone: 410-617-2475
alumni@loyola.edu
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