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Honoring the
Heroes Among Us
Volunteer Lawyers
Program Presents Annual Awards
By Stacy Rupprecht Butler
Southern Arizona Legal
Aid’s Volunteer Lawyers’ Program (VLP) held its
Annual Awards Luncheon at
the University Marriott on November 20. The
luncheon is an annual
event celebrating the attorneys, legal staff, law students
and others who volunteer
with and support the Volunteer Lawyers’ Program.
Now in its 27th
year, the VLP’s mission is to foster hope, self-sufficiency and
equal access to the
justice system by matching volunteer lawyers with low-
income Arizonans who have
nowhere else to turn. This year’s luncheon
celebrated the fact that
in 2008, volunteers came forward in record numbers
to meet the increased
demand for indigent client legal services brought about
by the current economic
downturn. In 2008, over 1240 attorneys and 113
students volunteered with
the VLP, donating 4,637 hours of legal service.
The theme of this year’s
luncheon, “Moments of
Heroism,” highlighted the
fact
that VLP volunteers are
truly
heroes to the clients
that
they serve. From the
perspective of the VLP
and its clients, simple
legal tasks such as
filing
a brief, scheduling a
hearing
or settling a case are
heroic achievements. The graphic design featured on the
luncheon program and
community report cleverly incorporated an attorney
wearing a super-hero
cape. Attendees received coffee mugs filled with M&Ms
and imprinted with the
same super-hero graphic. Master of Ceremonies Elliot
Glicksman (pictured
above, right) praised the hard work of the VLP and
delighted attendees with
a humorous photo-tour of Tucson’s lesser-known
tourist attractions.
Following a moving power-point presentation highlighting
some of the many
accomplishments of the VLP volunteers, Arizona Supreme
Court Justice W. Scott
Bales (pictured below, right with Elliott Glicksman, left,
and John McDonald,
middle) thanked the volunteers for their efforts and spoke
about the importance of
pursuing social equality within the justice system.
Twelve attorneys were
honored as VLP’s Attor neys
of the Month in 2008: Sandy
Hansen (January); Darren
Clausen
(February); Ben Smith
(March); Mo
Goldman (April); Rudy
Valenzuela
(May); Dan Montgomery
(June);
Peter Akmajian (July);
John Barrett
(August); Sarah Crotty
(September);
Michael Hornisher
(October); Joubert
Davenport (November) and
Heather
Strickland (December,
pictured
at right).
In addition, the VLP
extended special
awards to individuals,
law firms and organizations who made extraordinary
contributions to the VLP
in 2008: Max Wedel (Undergraduate Student of the
Year); Joseph Smith (Law
Student of the Year, picture d
below); Olivia Sanders
(Translation Services
Award); Bernice
Sandoval
(Millie Crawford Legal Assistant
Award); Ben
Smith (Award of
Appreciation); Ron Allen & Cheryl
Copperstone
(Consumer/Bankruptcy
Attorneys of
the Year); Dean Christoffel
& Edina
Strum (Lifesaver Award); Dean
Toni Massaro
(Distinguished Service
Award); Lisa
Schriner Lewis (Attorney of
the Year Award, pictured
at left) and
DeConcini McDonald Yetwin
& Lacy, PC (Firm of the Year).
The VLP extends its
appreciation
to all who attended the
luncheon
and to all the heroes who
donated
their time and talent to
the VLP
and its clients in 2008.
View the 2008 Annual Report
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