Some of the Wayne County lawyers and presenters at the June 27th Wayne County Pro Bono Conference are pictured during the lunch break of the full day program in front of the Wayne County Courthouse.

Nearly half of the active practice attorneys in the county joined Judge Raymond L. Hamill (front, blue coat) for the six hour Continuing Legal Education Program organized by local attorney Richard Henry (front, 2nd from the left) with the support of PBA Pro Bono Coordinator David Trevaskis (front, far right) and Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network Executive Director Sam Milkes (front, far left). The expansive program was provided at no cost to local attorneys as a means to stimulate the development of an organized pro bono program in Wayne County.

Trevaskis and Milkes opened the program with an ethics session that featured the www.PALawHELP.org and www.PAProbono.net websites. Attorney Sheila Fisher of North Penn Legal Services (NPLS) then highlighted the HotDocs document assembly program found on those websites. Sylvia Hahn (picture, center), head of the neighboring Lackawanna Pro Bono, Inc. program, shared possible pro bono structures for the county to consider.

Following a lunch provided by the Wayne County Bar Association, NPLS Martin Luther King Fellow Scott Williams (picture, top right) covered employment issues and John Hurtt and Jim Hayward, also of NPLS, presented a session on defending against foreclosures. Trevaskis and 2008 Pro Bono Award winner Harry Cooper closed the program with a session featuring the desktop reference created by the PBA Military and Veterans Affairs Committee.

A follow-up meeting with Judge Hamill, local attorneys, North Penn Legal Services and the PBA Pro Bono Office is scheduled for Honesdale for August 4th.