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The Pennsylvania Civil Law Practice Area contains information and resources relating to the non-criminal practice of law in Pennsylvania, including family law.

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Celebrate Pro Bono 2011

Building on the extraordinary success of the annual National Pro Bono Celebrations in 2009 and 2010 , the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service sponsored the Celebration again this year on October 23 through 29, 2011.

The annual Celebration is a coordinated national effort to meet the ever-growing needs of this country's most vulnerable citizens by encouraging and supporting local efforts to expand the delivery of pro bono legal services, and by showcasing the great difference that pro bono lawyers make to the nation, its system of justice, its communities and, most of all, to the clients they serve.

As part of the Celebration, the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service encouraged fresh and creative ideas for providing pro bono service through a national conversation on pro bono. Please join the conversation now, invite your colleagues to do the same, and come back often to keep the conversation going.

For more information on the celebration, visit www.CelebrateProBono.org.

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2011 Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network Excellence Awards Presented to Thomas A. Tupitza and Joseph A Tate

The Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network presented its 2011 Excellence Awards at the annual awards dinner on Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at the Harrisburg Hilton and Towers.

Among those recognized were Thomas A. Tupitza, Esq., a Private Bar Volunteer, with Knox McLaughlin Gornall & Sennett, P.C.in Erie, and Joseph A. Tate, Esq., a Private Bar Volunteer with Dechert, LLP in Philadelphia.

Thomas A. Tupitza, Esq., an Erie County attorney and president of the law firm of Knox McLaughlin Gornall & Sennett, has over the past 16 years, consistently worked to further the mission and vision of legal services on both the local and state levels. He has served on the board of directors of Northwestern Legal Services, as director of The Nonprofit Partnership, a project of the Erie Community Foundation, and was instrumental in the creation of The Nonprofit Pro Bono Project in Erie County.

Mr. Tupitza continues to lend his efforts to Northwestern Legal Services in its fundraising efforts. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of PLAN, Inc. and serves as its Treasurer and the Chair of its Budget and Finance Committee.

Joseph A. Tate, Esq., a partner at the Philadelphia office of Dechert, LLP, specializes in anti-trust and white collar litigation. Attorney Tate was honored for his work with his co-winner Mary Richardson Graham to solidify the relationship between legal aid and the private bar in Philadelphia. Their efforts have resulted in dramatically increased financial support for Community Legal Service through CLS' annual private bar campaign. Working in tandem, they have raised over $3 Million to provide civil legal aid to the poor, and have increased total donations by 50%, and the number of donating firms by almost a third, since their first campaign together in 2003.

A video tribute to each of the winners was presented during the awards ceremony. The video tributes to Attorney Tupitza and Attorney Tate, in conjunction with Mary Graham Richardson may be viewed on the PLAN website.

Pennsylvania Loan Repayment Assistance Program

The Excellence Awards program at the dinner included special recognition of those individuals and groups involved in the creation of Pennsylvania's statewide Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP).

Pennsylvania's LRAP program will provide financial assistance to 75 public interest attorneys and will assist the 25 IOLTA funded organizations in the recruitment and retention of program lawyers.

This program, which began in June 2010, helps to expand and retain the pool of talented attorneys who are pursuing public service to assist underrepresented Pennsylvanians. Civil legal aid programs across Pennsylvania have struggled to hire and retain qualified legal talent and relieving the debt burden of some new lawyers helps to ease that challenge.

Recognition of the LRAP program included the presentation a video at the award program dinner which may be viewed on the PLAN website.

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Participating Organizations:

Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network
Pennsylvania Bar Association
Legal Services to the Public Committee of the Pennsylvania Bar Association
Pro Bono Center of the Allegheny County Bar Foundation
Philadelphia VIP Pro Bono Legal Services
Philadelphia Bar Association
Dauphin County Bar Association Pro Bono Program
Erie County Bar Association Legal Aid Volunteer Attorneys (LAVA) Program
Lackawanna Pro Bono, Inc. (Video Profile)
Pennsylvania IOLTA Board