Dennis J. Gounley, of Greensburg, received a 2011 Pennsylvania Bar Association Pro Bono Award on February 6, 2012 at a Westmoreland County Bar Association program presented by longtime WBA and PBA leader Dick Galloway. Gounley was honored for his assistance to pro bono clients with debt collection and bankruptcy issues. The Pennsylvania Bar Association Legal Services to the Public Committee has presented awards to lawyers deserving special recognition for voluntary efforts to provide free and reduced-fee legal representation to low-income Pennsylvanians for the past quarter century.

At a time when Pennsylvania is dealing with a civil legal aid crisis which sees far more than half the people who make it to a legal aid office and qualify for legal aid being turned away from receiving such help because of a lack of resources, Gounley’s commitment to legal aid and support of pro bono service is a tremendous example for judges, other lawyers and the public at large.

Despite special fees and a loan forgiveness program for civil legal aid attorneys now in its second year, the justice system just does not have the professional resources to meet the growing need for such services in these tough economic times. Gounley knows how important it is that pro bono lawyers take cases and provide donations to significantly extend the resources of legal aid available for the neediest among us and that civil legal aid lawyers continue to work hard despite growing obstacles.

There are nearly 70,000 attorneys licensed in Pennsylvania. According to recently released data from the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts (IOLTA) Program, pro bono services by Pennsylvania lawyers provide the annual equivalent service of 61 full-time legal aid lawyers.

Pro bono service cannot replace the work of fully funded legal aid offices. It is only within a well supported legal aid system that there is a structure for organized pro bono service to make a difference. Difficulties abound. As funding for legal aid programming faces cuts in these hard economic times, including a 10% cut in state funding at the start of the new year, the number of persons needing such service continues to grow.

However, thanks to the service of lawyers like Dennis Gounley, and the work of both civil legal aid and pro bono attorneys around the Commonwealth, there is access to justice for many who otherwise would be without legal representation.