The Indiana legal profession recognized select members of the legal profession and educators, honoring them for their work in either civil legal aid or civic education at the Indiana Bar Foundation’s 2019 Awards Dinner.
A recent study examined 12 separate legal services agencies around Indiana and calculated the organizations’ social return on investment. The group dug into the financials for the year 2017 and concluded that for every $1 invested in Indiana legal aid that year, the state received $6.70 in immediate and long-term financial benefits.
Scott Wylie, attorney and director of the Vanderburgh Community Foundation, has been named as the first full-time staff director of the Volunteer Lawyer Program of Southwestern Indiana.
This year’s annual event was held Dec. 11 in downtown Indianapolis, bringing together state and federal judges, attorneys and their families.
The alteration the Indianapolis Legal Aid Society made this season to its letters soliciting donations reflects a strategic decision by the nonprofit to go after higher contributions and underscores the need for service organizations of any kind to be aggressive.
The Indiana Supreme Court has formed a new commission to address the problem of Indiana residents who cannot afford legal services. But rather than giving attention to the clients, this group will focus on the nonprofit agencies that provide the assistance.
Scott Wylie was turned down for the first job he applied for in legal services. Now, he’s being honored as pro bono professional of the year.
A reflection of the southwestern Indiana legal community’s commitment comes during Evansville’s Law Day celebration. The day begins with the local attorneys reciting the Indiana Oath of Attorneys. The last clause of that oath speaks to not forsaking the poor and to the attorneys’ obligation to not turn away people from justice.
The Volunteer Lawyer Program of Southwestern Indiana will prepare wills for group home residents and patients of Southwestern Behavioral Healthcare as part of the annual Prepare a Will Project.
As the family court project of the Indiana Supreme Court’s Division of State Court Administration enters a new year, courts that participate in the program have learned they will continue to operate with about the same amount of funding they have had in recent years.
While many attorneys may want to do pro bono work, not all of them are comfortable taking on what could end up being a lengthy and possibly complicated family law case, which is the majority of cases the pro bono districts around the state tend to handle.
Ralph Adams, the former staff attorney and director of Legal Services of Maumee Valley, will receive this year’s Randall T. Shepard Award for excellence in pro bono service. He, along with other recipients of pro bono awards, will be honored at the Shepard Award Dinner in October.
All that is known about funding for Indiana’s 14 pro bono districts is that no one yet knows exactly how much the districts will receive in October for their 2011 budgets.
Usually being served by a lawyer is a bad thing. That is, unless the lawyer is offering a cool martini or a warm plate of
shrimp and grits.
The Evansville Bar Association, along with the Volunteer Lawyer Program of Southwestern Indiana, presented awards for service and pro bono work to attorneys at a lunch Wednesday.