The ABA Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants
& The National Legal Aid and Defender Association
Congratulate the Winners of the 2009 Harrison Tweed Award!
The North Carolina Bar Association
and
The Philadelphia Bar Association
The North Carolina Bar Association and the Philadelphia Bar Association (PA) each received a 2009 Harrison Tweed Award for achievement in preserving and increasing access to legal services for the poor. The award winning activities of each of these bar associations demonstrate the wide range of activities that bars engage in to promote access to justice.
North Carolina Bar Association
The North Carolina Bar Association is being recognized for its innovative “4ALL” campaign to increase access to legal services for the poor through a five-prong approach: educate, legislate, donate, participate and provide loan repayment assistance. The education campaign has focused on informing North Carolina lawyers about the great unmet need for legal services by the poor in the state and the professional responsibility of the private bar to help fill that gap. The legislative campaign has developed a grassroots advocacy network to seek increased public funding for legal services. Through its private bar fundraising efforts, the “4ALL” campaign has raised close to $900,000 for the Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC) Fund, with a portion of those funds supporting loan repayment assistance for North Carolina law school graduates who work for LANC. The “4ALL” campaign has also led to increased pro bono participation through its annual statewide “Service Day” that has provided hundreds of volunteer lawyers the opportunity to respond to calls for legal advice and referral. The “4ALL” campaign has established a widespread culture of service and volunteerism among North Carolina lawyers, and it is an approach that is being replicated in other states throughout the nation.
Philadelphia Bar Association
The Philadelphia Bar Association is being honored for its role in creating, supporting and sustaining the Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Pilot Project, which has saved hundreds of low-income homeowners from the loss of their homes. This project is a collaboration among key stakeholders including the judiciary, the bar, legal services programs, pro bono programs, city officials, lenders and borrowers. It includes a hotline that provides rapid access to housing counselors, who give advice to homeowners facing foreclosure. In addition, hundreds of volunteer lawyers are recruited and trained to represent low-income homeowners in special conciliation conferences held weekly at the courthouse. There, lawyers gather with their clients, housing counselors and lenders to negotiate affordable loan modification or payment arrangements. Judges and judges pro tem (who are also pro bono volunteers) are on hand, as needed, to work out a suitable compromise. This project serves as a model, attracting dozens of visitors from around the country, and it represents a creative and collaborative response to the current housing crisis.
