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Bar News - June 6, 2003 Bar Foundation Annual Event Celebrates Service, Fundraising Success By: Dan Wise AMID THE CHALLENGES of meeting a steadily increasing demand for legal services for low- and moderate-income clients, the legal services community and its supporters in the judiciary and private bar were in a celebratory mood on May 22 at the NH Bar Foundation's Annual Dinner held at CR Sparks in Bedford. There was plenty to applaud, starting with the awards: the Frank Rowe Kenison Award was presented to Ron Lospennato, legal director for the Disabilities Rights Center, marking a lifetime of persistent, imaginative, compassionate - and successful - advocacy for the disabled; and the Robert Kirby Award was presented to McLane attorney Jennifer Parent, recognizing a young lawyer who has already established a reputation for exemplary advocacy, civility and leadership. Then there was the inspiration of the keynote speaker, former Georgia Governor Ray Barnes, who seasoned his call to pro bono service with authentic Georgia-accented anecdotes of his current stint with Atlanta Legal Aid. Barnes left the Georgia governor's office after failing to win re-election and directly went to work for six months as an unpaid legal services attorney. Barnes called on all lawyers to donate 50 hours of pro bono service, and urged law firms of all sizes to provide institutional support for such service by recognizing it in partnership decisions and including it in the attorneys' billable-hour requirements. The involvement of large law firms is necessary, Barnes said, because the rank- and-file of the bar need to "see senior lawyers at large firms pulling their fair share." (See page 4 for excerpts of Barnes' remarks and details about an NHBA proposal to create a new, reduced-dues category for attorneys doing full-time Pro Bono work.) Speaking of fair shares, the evening concluded with an upbeat assessment of the progress of the year-old Community Campaign for Legal Services. W. John Funk, co-chair of the campaign, said the campaign's three-year goal of $750,000 has nearly been met, but that much work remains: A majority of the Bar has yet to be solicited to participate, and the needs - given shrinking social spending and the struggling economy - are escalating the need for civil legal services for disadvantaged citizens. See page 11 for more Foundation news, including the naming of the Foundation's new executive director.
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