Bar's Pro Bono Project for Domestic Violence Victims Wins Award

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Bar's Pro Bono Project for Domestic Violence Victims Wins Award

9/18/03

(Photograph by Doug Elbinger)

The State Bar's Pro Bono Project for Domestic Violence Victims has won a prestigious Community and Educational Outreach Award that is presented each year by the National Association of Bar Executives and Lexis Nexis. Project leaders met in Lansing recently to accept the award that was first presented at the American Bar Association meeting in San Francisco, August 2003. The Pro Bono Project for Domestic Violence Victims was the brainchild of retired judge Patricia Micklow of Marquette. The project is designed to encourage and enhance pro bono legal services for low-income domestic violence victims through the development of statewide training programs, manuals, and other support materials to assist attorneys representing victims in civil proceedings. So far, close to 300 attorneys have received the training. The project, which is the first of its kind in the country, is jointly administered by the State Bar's Open Justice Commission and the Michigan Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence (MCADSV). It was developed and implemented as a pilot in 2001 and again in May 2003 as an on-going program. It's now mostly run by the MCADSV with financial help from various sources including grant money from a major Department of Justice VAWA grant. The Michigan State Bar Foundation also provided financial help and support for the training. Project leaders seated left to right: Hon. Harold Hood (co-chair of the State Bar Open Justice Commission); Hon. Patricia Micklow; Supreme Court Justice Hon. Marilyn Kelly (co-chair of the State Bar Open Justice Commission) and John Berry, executive director State Bar of Michigan. Standing, left to right: Linda Rexer, executive director Michigan State Bar Foundation; Gregory Conyers, State Bar pro bono administrator; Evanne Dietz, chairperson of 2003 project; Lorraine Weber, former State Bar Open Justice Consultant and Kathleen Conklin, staff attorney, MCADSV.

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