The Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation Presidential Award is presented annually to law firms or individuals who have made outstanding efforts in improving access to justice through pro bono or volunteer service. Past recipients include Hon. Colleen Falkowski (2015); GE Aviation Legal Department (2014); and Bricker & Eckler LLP (2013). Nominations for the award are now [...]
Columbus Legal Aid housing attorney Ben Horne is assisting a group of low-income, elderly tenants who were unexpectedly evicted from their apartments with little time to find other housing. Read more here.
Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) has announced expansion of a federal anti-poverty program into 11 Ohio counties, including Meigs County in Southeastern Ohio. Federal statistics show that one out of every four American children lives in poverty, which increases the risk for poor health, failure to graduate and lower income as an adult. Read more here.
2015 was a banner year for the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation as it worked to advance its mission of ensuring equal access to justice and the availability of civil legal help statewide for low-income and vulnerable Ohioans. Here are some highlights: 1) The Ohio Supreme Court's Access to Justice Task Force issues its report and [...]
The quarter-point increase in the Federal Reserve Bank's benchmark lending rate is good news for legal aids. The interest rate on lawyer trust accounts, a major source of funding for legal aid, is closely related to the Federal Reserve Bank rate. Read more here.
Active registration status Ohio attorneys and, for the first time, corporate practice attorneys will soon receive an email from the Ohio Supreme Court requesting that pro bono work performed in 2015 be reported to the Court voluntarily and anonymously. In 2015, a Supreme Court rule change allowed attorneys registered as corporate practice attorneys to also [...]
The Supreme Court of Ohio has published for comment a rule that, if enacted, would create an emeritus attorney registration classification. Emeritus attorneys, those with 25 years in practice, or 15 years in practice and over the age of 65, would only be licensed to provide pro bono legal representation to low-income Ohioans under the [...]
Longtime Dayton area lawyer Ellis Jacobs is a winner of the 2015 Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation Murphy Award. Created by the Foundation in 1998, the award is named for the late Denis Murphy, a Columbus lawyer and founding board member of the Foundation who advocated for strong funding for civil legal aid. Jacobs, a Dayton [...]
Rhonda Y. Moore, a lawyer and Executive Director of Cincinnati-based Pro Seniors, is a winner of the 2015 Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation Murphy Award. Created by the Foundation in 1998, the award is named for the late Denis Murphy, a Columbus lawyer and founding board member of the Foundation who advocated for strong funding for [...]
Pro Seniors, a nonprofit founded in 1975, has had a tremendous impact on older Ohioans with legal and long-term care problems through its three programs: legal services, long-term care ombudsman, and Ohio SMP (Senior Medicare Patrol). Pro Seniors operates a free Legal Hotline to help older Ohioans in resolving their legal problems. Pro Seniors’ long-term [...]
