2025 – what a year it’s been! At the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation, we spent 2025 executing our new mission, to help ensure that Ohioans who are low-income or who lack access can fully and fairly participate in civil systems that produce just outcomes. At the beginning of the year, the Foundation added new [...]
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 [...]
The Ohio Access to Justice Foundation, the largest funder of civil legal services in Ohio, has announced funding awards to nonprofit civil legal service providers across the state totaling more than $7.2 million. “It is an honor to invest in the vital work of Ohio’s civil legal service providers, who help low-income Ohioans and strengthen [...]
Judge Michael Jackson retired from the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in 2019, leaving behind one of the most successful Veterans Treatment Courts (VTC) in the country. For his efforts, he received three national awards from All Rise’s Justice For Vets, Vietnam Veterans of America, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. When he ran for [...]
Ohio’s veterans have sacrificed so much, yet many still face significant legal and personal challenges. The Supreme Court of Ohio’s Lean Forward Initiative aims to address these barriers by educating judges and criminal justice stakeholders, fostering community partnerships to meet veterans’ needs, and sustaining long-term educational opportunities to enhance treatment and criminal justice programs available [...]
When Legal Aid of Western Ohio (LAWO) Executive Director Kevin Mulder leaves his office for the last time in early December, he’ll conclude more than three decades of service at legal aid, including 24 years as LAWO’s leader. Having guided LAWO through recessions, administrative changes, and a pandemic, he’s earned a well-deserved break. “I love [...]
Thanks to the Foundation’s Neighborhood Stabilization Grant Program, funded through Attorney Unclaimed Funds, Ohio’s legal aids provide legal work across the state to address housing needs. With the Nov. 1 deadline to report unclaimed funds quickly approaching, Ohio attorneys can transform the requirement to report unclaimed client funds into an opportunity to direct dollars to life-changing [...]
The Foundation is pleased to welcome Robby Southers as policy and justice initiatives counsel. In this newly created role, Southers will lead and support legal and policy initiatives that drive systemic change. Through advocacy and broad coalition-building, Southers will work to improve opportunities for low-income Ohioans to fully and fairly participate in civil systems that [...]
October is Pro Bono Month, a time to highlight the need for pro bono service and to celebrate the attorneys who dedicate their time and talent to helping low-income Ohioans resolve civil legal challenges. Attorneys ready to volunteer can visit Pro Bono Ohio, a new online platform from the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation that [...]
For the fifth year in a row, the Foundation is partnering with the Ohio Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) to provide grants to Ohio’s legal aid organizations to support critical legal services for domestic relations cases. AAML, an organization dedicated to family law and a long-time supporter of legal aid, has [...]
