The American Bar Association Section of Business Law will present its 2010 National Public Service Awards on Friday, April 23, during the section’s Spring Meeting in Denver.

Douglas L. Rogers, volunteer lawyer with the Ohio State Legal Services Association, will be presented with the award for an individual, while the IBM Law Department will receive the award for a law firm or corporate law department.

The awards annually recognizes the work of an individual lawyer and a law firm or corporate law department who have demonstrated a commitment to delivering pro bono legal services in a business context.

Rogers, the individual recognized, received his nomination for his contributions to the Ohio Poverty Law Center and Southeastern Ohio Legal Services as well as to OSLSA.

As a full-time volunteer since 2008, Rogers has worked with distressed Ohio homeowners, particularly the elderly and disabled, in need of foreclosure defense assistance. He also assists low-income clients with consumer matters.

His understanding of complex business transactions such as securitizations has proved invaluable as he provides foreclosure defense assistance to clients not able to represent themselves adequately. He has also helped prepare other SEOLS lawyers for foreclosure defense work.

Prior to his volunteer work, Rogers had a lengthy career with Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP as an intellectual property lawyer. He is a graduate of Cornell University and Yale Law School.

The IBM Law Department earned recognition for its sustained volunteer business assistance to nonprofit organizations that serve the poor and disadvantaged.

In the past two years, participation by the IBM Law Department staff in pro bono work has grown under the leadership of Robert C. Weber, senior vice president, legal and regulatory affairs, and general counsel; and Michelle Browdy, vice president and assistant general counsel.

During that time period, more than two dozen IBM lawyers have handled at least 30 matters for IBM’s Pro Bono Partnership clients, including work with corporate governance, real estate, regulatory compliance and employment law issues.

Among the clients the IBM Law Department has served through pro bono work are Grant Kids, Westchester Residential Opportunities, Greystone Foundation of Yonkers, Westchester Institute for Human Development, St. Luke’s LifeWorks, Bridge Fund, Today’s Students Tomorrow’s Teachers as well as other nonprofit organizations assisting the underserved.