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Southwestern
Indiana Attorneys Honored by
The Evansville Bar Association and
The Volunteer Lawyer Program
Of Southwestern Indiana
Evansville IN:
The Volunteer Lawyer Program of Southwestern Indiana (VLP) and the
Evansville Bar Association (EBA) are pleased to announce that The
Honorable Randall T. Shepard, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
of Indiana, presented the following awards at a joint meeting of
the two organizations on October 23, 2002.
Awards presented by the
Volunteer Lawyer Program of Southwestern Indiana
Partnership
Award presented to Peoples Bank and Trust of Boonville,
Tony Aylsworth, President
The Volunteer
Lawyer Program of Southwestern Indiana was formed through the collaborative
efforts of attorneys and judges. The VLP, however, does not exist
in the legal world alone. Others have made significant contributions
to the VLP, the promotion of pro bono service and IOLTA. For the
Partnership Award, the VLP looks to the Southwestern Indiana community
to give credit to an individual, an entity or group for helping
with our cause.
When the IOLTA
program of Indiana began, banks across the state set IOLTA interest
rates to be collected voluntarily to help fund expanded legal aid
to the poor of our state. Peoples Trust and Savings Bank of Boonville,
to benefit programs for low-income individuals of the community,
offered to attorneys an IOLTA interest rate that would make a difference.
People's Bank set IOLTA account interest rates at 5%. That rate
remains the absolute highest IOLTA rate in Indiana and the nation.
Congratulations to Peoples Bank of Boonville, and Tony Aylsworth,
the first recipient of the VLP Partnership award. Peoples Bank:
leaders in our community and nation for not only promoting pro bono
but IOLTA participation too.
Pro
Bono Service Awards Presented to
Catherine A. Nestrick; Jason Field and Jeffery Neal; Jean Hadley;
and Jeffrey Hayes
There is no
doubt that attorneys in District 13/Southern Indiana have nurtured
a spirit of pro bono for many, many years. The VLP Pro Bono Service
Awards go to individual attorneys. With this award, the VLP wishes
to recognize individual Southern Indiana attorneys who have embraced
the VLP and the promotion of pro bono service in our community.
The VLP Pro Bono Service Awards go to attorneys who have taken on
an extraordinary number of VLP referrals or have accepted a particularly
difficult issue or case (sometimes an unpopular issue or case),
or have provided special contributions to the expansion of pro bono
legal services to the disadvantaged in his or her community. The
recipients of the Pro Bono Service Award are:
1. Jason Field
and Jeffery Neal, Knox County. Jason and Jeff accepted a pro bono
referral that other attorneys would not touch. The case is not a
popular one but is one that goes to the meaning of access to justice.
The case involved the unique issue of personal and real property
forfeiture as the result of a drug-related offense. Jason and Jeff
represented the two defendants that other counsel might consider
less than desirable. The trial lasted well over a full day and the
level of preparation for the case demonstrated many hours had gone
into the case.
2. Jean Hadley,
Posey County. Jean Hadley has long led her community in representing
the poor and disadvantaged. One of Jean's passions is her role as
one of the organizer of Posey County's Domestic Violence Task Force.
She has committed hundreds of pro bono hours to the task force and
to representing victims of domestic violence. In this past year,
Jean has accepted every VLP referral offered to her in spite of
overwhelming personal hardship.
3. Jeffrey Hayes,
Daviess County. Jeff Hayes has demonstrated over this first full
year of VLP activity, that he is a force to be contended with in
Daviess County. Jeff has
represented 5 family law clients referred to him by the VLP with
efficiency and professionalism. This year Jeff has accepted the
highest number of VLP referrals of any attorney in District 13 while
maintaining a busy and productive private practice.
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4. Catherine
A. Nestrick, Vanderburgh County. Cathy spearheaded the enrollment
of all 35 attorneys of her firm, Bamberger, Foreman, Oswald &
Hahn, with the VLP. Cathy also serves as the conduit between the
firm's attorneys and the VLP, thus simplifying the referral process.
Cathy tracks the firm's VLP pro bono cases and mentors associates
with their pro bono cases. Under Cathy's leadership, the attorneys
of Bamberger, Foreman, Oswald & Hahn have accepted over twenty-eight
VLP referrals, the majority of which have been family law cases.
Cathy also promotes collaborations between the Evansville Bar Association
and the VLP to open the courthouse doors for the poor. Cathy herself
has taken 4 VLP referrals since February 2002. Cathy exemplifies
leadership toward providing greater access to justice through pro
bono service.
Outstanding Law Firm of the Year Award
presented to
Bamberger, Foreman, Oswald & Hahn
This award is
designed to pay special compliment to a law firm in District 13
that has demonstrated a high level of participation and commitment
of its members to the provision of pro bono legal services through
the VLP. This year the award goes to Evansville's largest law firm
--- Bamberger, Foreman, Oswald & Hahn which enrolled all BFOH
attorneys to participate in the VLP and accept referrals from the
VLP. To date, BFOH attorneys have accepted approximately 30 pro
bono referrals. Terry Farmer accepted the award on behalf of Bamberger,
Foreman, Oswald & Hahn.
Community Service
Award presented to Volunteer Lawyer Program County Representatives:
Tony Aylsworth, Warrick County; Elizabeth Baier, Posey County; Kerry
D. Currier, Knox County; C. Dean Higginbotham, Gibson County; Jefferson
A. Lindsey, Spencer County; James A. McEntarfer, Perry County; Jeffrey
R. Norris, Daviess County; W. Wyatt Rauch, Pike County; Joseph L.
Verkamp, DuBois County;
and Paul J. Vogler, Martin County
The Community
Service Awards are special awards this year recognizing the groundbreaking
work of several attorneys in District 13 -- attorneys who have been
instrumental and dedicated to the delivery of pro bono legal services
to the poor and have help the VLP immeasurably to reach so many
poor or disadvantaged people. This award goes to those attorneys
without whom the VLP would not have its unique plan and structure.
Without the efforts of these individuals, the VLP would not have
been able to accomplish as much as we have. Each one of these attorneys
has served as our connection to the community. Each one has spent
numerous hours helping low-income people obtain legal counsel that
would otherwise have been out of reach.
Awards presented by the Evansville Bar Association:
This
year, the EBA instituted two awards to recognize the contribution
of its members to the many efforts made to bridge the gap to justice
for the needy in our community.
The President's Special Service Award
presented to Shawn Sullivan, of Terrell, Baugh, Salmon & Born
The President's
Special Service Award is dedicated to the person or organization
the EBA President believes exemplifies the purpose of lawyers in
our society. The Award, and the recipient, should stand as an example
of the good that can be achieved only through the hard work and
charity of a member of the Bar.
The selection
of this year's recipient began with a letter written to the Court
by an elderly woman attempting to answer the Complaint her creditor
had filed against her to collect a seriously delinquent debt. This
woman was 72 years old, suffering from several debilitating diseases,
including cancer, and simply unable to make ends meet on her meager
Social Security income.
From the letter,
it was apparent that even though this woman was overwhelmed by life
in many daunting ways, she retained the personal courage to face
up to this lawsuit with dignity. She pledged to continue to do her
very best, but she lacked sufficient skill to defend the suit without
lawyer assistance, and she most certainly lacked sufficient funds
to hire a lawyer.
The recipient
of this year's President's Award was contacted and asked if he would
be willing to accept an appointment to represent a client who financially
qualified for pro bono referral. In spite of a heavy personal case
load and family responsibilities, he accepted the case cheerfully
and his representation of the woman was a success.
This case and
this lawyer's gift of valuable time and talented legal service came
together to form a heartwarming example of the value of legal services
to the needy and the goodness our lawyers bring to our community.
This woman will never forget Shawn Sullivan to the day she dies.
The Board of Directors Spirit of Justice
Award presented to the firm, Lockyear & Kornblum, attorneys
Theodore Lockyear, James Kornblum and B. Michael Macer.
This award was
established by the Board of Directors to recognize that person or
organization who stands by the last clause of the oath of attorneys:
".... I will never reject, from any consideration personal
to myself, the cause of the defenseless or oppressed; so help me
God." The "Spirit of Justice" Award recognizes the
hard-fought and often thankless tasks that attorney(s) undertake
to seek justice in spite of adversity and overwhelming odds.
On March 28,
2002, Governor Frank O'Bannon announced that the Evansville Psychiatric
Children's Center would be closed by June. The Evansville community
stood solidly behind the Center, and there was a huge public outcry
against the closing.
A mental health
group contacted the Evansville Bar Association to inquire if there
was an attorney or firm that might be willing to help the local
parents of residents of the Center to stop, or at the very least,
prolong, the closing. They were given the name of Lockyear and Kornblum.
Ted Lockyear, Jim Kornblum, and B. Michael Macer agreed to represent
the families of ten local children who were Center residents. More
importantly, they agreed to stay with the case to the end, committed
to fighting the decision to close the Center.
Their initial
step was to file for an Injunction against the closing of the Center,
which was granted on April 24, 2002, by Vanderburgh Superior Court
Judge Wayne Trockman. The three attorneys estimate that over 200
hours of research, depositions, preparation and court appearances
went into filing for this injunction in a short, two-week, period.
After much political
wrangling, the Center and it's funding became a part of the budget
legislation sent to the Governor for signature. When Governor O'Bannon
signed the budget, he also committed to keeping the Evansville Psychiatric
Children's Center open.
The spirit of
justice shines brightest when the end result is that those neediest
among us are cared for and not forgotten because they cannot fight
for themselves. This case is a living example of the Evansville
Bar Association Board of Director's Spirit of Justice Award, and
it is fitting that Ted Lockyear, James Kornblum and Michael Macer
should be the first recipients.
Presentation to Chief Justice Randall Shepard
by the Evansville Bar Association and the Volunteer Lawyer Program
of Southwestern Indiana
Judge J. Douglas
Knight, president of the EBA and the VLP, and Judge W. Timothy Crowley,
Vice Chair of the VLP, presented a token of appreciation to Chief
Justice Randall Shepard, which read:
"The Volunteer
Lawyer Program of Southwestern Indiana and The Evansville Bar Association
honor CHIEF JUSTICE RANDALL T. SHEPARD, Indiana Supreme Court, for
his creative leadership and unequaled efforts to bring pro bono
legal services to the people of Indiana."
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