Nominations are now open for the 2018 Pennsylvania Bar Association Pro Bono Awards. Nominations for the awards will be accepted until Friday, December 22, 2017.

This year marks the 31st year that the committee has sought individual award nominees. This year also marks the fourteenth year for both the Judges Award and the Civil Legal Aid Attorney of the Year Award, given respectively, to a judge and a legal services attorney selected by the committee in recognition of exceptional contributions to improving civil legal aid in the commonwealth. The Judges Award is now named the Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille Award in honor of the retired former Chief Justice. This also marks the eighth year for the Pro Bono Partner Award to a non-attorney who supports legal services to the needy.

The award winners will be acknowledged at various pro bono events throughout the 2018 year, whenever possible by PBA President Sharon Lopez and by PBA President-Elect Charles Eppolito III. This continues the practice President Lopez and former PBA presidents who promoted pro bono service and civil legal aid across the commonwealth by honoring champions of pro bono during their bar travels.

Submitting a nomination for a colleague is your chance to recognize and thank those who have used their talents to expand access to justice and help the needy in your county.  As you select your nominees for the awards, please keep in mind the following criteria:

• The nominee works in Pennsylvania.
• The nominee, other than the Civil Legal Aid Attorney of the Year nominees, is not employed by an organization that has as its primary purpose the provision of free legal services to the poor. The Pro Bono Partner nominee may work for such an organization.
• The nominee has provided direct delivery of legal services or assisted in facilitating the delivery of such service in civil matters, with no expectation of receiving a fee, to a client or client group that does not have the resources to employ compensated counsel or has worked to facilitate such effort by other attorneys.
• The nominee has made an outstanding contribution to the provision of legal services to the indigent without charge.
• The nominee has made such contributions primarily through organized pro bono programs, lawyer referral service no-fee panels and legal services programs or has worked with such organizations to improve the delivery of legal services to the poor.
• The nominee’s efforts have resulted in the increased access to legal services for low-income people.

Nominations can be online on the Pennsylvania Bar Association website at http://www.pabar.org/public/probono/ProBonoAwardNomination.asp. The form can be completed electronically, and you will receive instant confirmation that your nomination was received.

If there are any questions regarding the Pro Bono Awards, please contact Pro Bono Coordinator David Keller Trevaskis at 800-932-0311, Ext. 2236; cell: (717) 571-7414;  and email: david.trevaskis@pabar.org.