Ohio Access to Justice Foundation founding board member Bill Weisenberg left New York City after law school for the AmeriCorps VISTA program, arriving in Ohio in 1969 ready to get to work. Assigned to The Legal Aid Society of Columbus, Weisenberg spent a year at legal aid before moving into private practice.
His experience at legal aid would prove formative for the rest of his career, during which he became a sought-after leader in Ohio government, culminating in 35 years at the Ohio State Bar Association as senior policy advisor.
Throughout his various roles, the central tenets of Weisenberg’s work have been building relationships in service of the greater good and striving for ideals that ensure justice for all.
“I always had this strong feeling that as a lawyer, what I wanted to do in particular was help people,” he said.
A master at forming connections and bridging divides, Weisenberg helped establish programs and policies that have helped Ohioans access justice. In part due to his leadership, the Ohio legislature established the IOLTA program in the 1980s, creating for the first time a dedicated source of state funding for civil legal aid. In the early 90s, he helped coordinate a study on access to justice in Ohio, the Spangenberg Report, which in turn kick-started the formation of the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation, now known as the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation.
He has traveled to D.C. many times to lobby for the preservation of federal funding for legal aid, and as a board member of the Foundation, he has encouraged the launch of innovative initiatives such as Ohio Legal Help and the Ohio Justice Bus.
Although he is technically retired, Weisenberg remains heavily involved in advancing the cause and administration of justice. He takes on new projects “all of the time” because he wants to build a better justice system.
“I still find the challenges of this system exhilarating,” he said. “As long as I have the faculties and my health to do all this, I’m going to continue doing it because I find it so rewarding. And the fact is I really like the people I’m working with.”
Weisenberg attributes his success to his people skills.
“I’m just a nice person; that’s how I think of myself,” he said. “You have to have fun. Every day I get up, I feel good in the sense that it’s a new day. There are new opportunities, there are new challenges. Let’s see if we can make today a better day.”
The Ohio Access to Justice Foundation is the largest funder of civil legal services in Ohio. A gift to the Foundation supports Ohio’s legal aids.