The Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Legal Services to the Public Committee is pleased to honor Harrisburg lawyer James P. DeAngelo with its Jeffrey A. Ernico Award at the September 27, 2017 annual fall membership meeting of the Dauphin County Bar Association.

Attorney DeAngelo is Chair of the Litigation Group at McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC in Harrisburg. He joined the firm as a business litigator in 1992 after his clerkship with the Pennsylvania Superior Court.

A longtime champion of pro bono service  and the delivery of legal services to the poor, Attorney DeAngelo has served as Chair of the Dauphin County Bar Association’s Public Service Committee since 1997. He also is a veteran member and past leader of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Legal Services to the Public Committee. 

He has served on the Boards and in leadership of significant legal aid programs, including: the regional MidPenn Legal Services program, a non-profit, public-interest law firm dedicated to providing equal access to justice and high quality civil legal services to low-income residents and survivors of domestic violence in 18 counties in Central Pennsylvania; the Community Justice Project, a statewide non-profit, legal aid law firm that fights for improvements to public benefits, increased access to affordable housing, better pay for workers, and many other issues; and the statewide Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network, the umbrella organization for many of the legal aid programs in the Commonwealth.  He has dedicated numerous hours of pro bono legal advice to individuals and families in the central Pennsylvania community and beyond.

"Jim is a truly deserving recipient of this award as he not only ‘talks the talk but walks the walk’ because no matter how busy he is in his private practice he always has time to support legal aid and handle cases pro bono,”  MidPenn Legal Services Executive Director Rhodia Thomas said upon hearing of DeAngelo being honored.

Dauphin County Bar Association Public Services Coordinator Sandy Ballard added, “With Jim’s bold and creative leadership, the Dauphin County Bar Association continues to expand and improve its service to the community through our Pro Bono Program.”

The Ernico Award celebrates the pro bono accomplishments of Harrisburg attorney Jeffrey A. Ernico and his long-standing commitment to equal justice and serving those who have nowhere else to turn. The Ernico Award is an occasional award of the PBA Legal Services to the Public Committee that is to be given to such individuals and groups as the committee, from time to time, determines have provided unique service that has resulted in significant improvement in the provision of legal services to the neediest among us. 

DeAngelo is the eleventh recipient of the Ernico Award since it was created in 2006.  His award reads:

“A champion of justice for those in need, James P. DeAngelo has been dedicated to public service throughout his legal career. His outstanding community service through pro bono contributions works to balance the inequality for those without adequate access to justice.”

Jim Carroll, Elizabeth Price, Kathleen Smith, Cary Flitter, Michael Paul Malakoff , Kenneth Jewell, Jon McKenna, Deborah Freeman, Larry Young, and Carol Mills McCarthy are past recipients of the Ernico Award.  Please see http://www.pabar.org/site/Probono/Ernico-Award.