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2007 News Articles › IP Section Presents Pro Bono Awards
IP Section Presents Pro Bono Awards
Article Date: Friday, April 13, 2007
The Intellectual Property Law Section of the North Carolina Bar Association recently presented its annual Individual and Law Firm Pro Bono Awards to Winston-Salem attorney Laura C. Miller and the N.C. Intellectual Property Group of Kilpatrick Stockton LLP.
A donation was made to Legal Aid of North Carolina in the names of each recipient.
Nomination information regarding Miller, who also practices with Kilpatrick Stockton, noted the following:
"Laura Miller provided over 110 hours of pro bono service to low income clients during 2006, resulting in her providing more pro bono service than almost any other IP attorney in Kilpatrick Stockton’s North Carolina offices for the year.
"Laura provided pro bono legal services in her areas of expertise related to trademark and copyright law. For example, Laura provided trademark and copyright counseling and representation to several non-profit organizations, including the Casa Esperanza Charter Montessori School, the Amani Childrens’ Foundation, the Flora MacDonald Legacy Foundation, the Children’s Fund of North Carolina, the Ronald McDonald House of Winston-Salem, the North Carolina Trust for Public Land, the Winston-Salem Piedmont Triad Symphony, and the Piedmont Opera Theatre.
"However, Laura’s pro bono work often goes beyond IP counseling and service. As an example, Laura represents Kybele, a non-profit, humanitarian organization dedicated to improving childbirth conditions worldwide. Kybele brings U.S., Canadian, Australian, and European healthcare professionals into host countries to work along side doctors and nurses in their home environments. The teams provide hands-on training in techniques that improve healthcare safety, with the goal of preventing childbirth related injury and death which affect millions of women and newborns each year. In addition to the myriad international IP issues related to this enterprise, Laura recognized the great need for protecting these healthcare professionals from liability in the variety of jurisdictions in which they offer assistance. Accordingly, she engaged other attorneys to provide pro bono service to this organization to help protect the individuals giving their time and expertise to promote quality healthcare around the world.
"Laura also provides pro bono services outside her law practice “comfort zone.” She participated in the “Wills on Wheels” program providing wills to an indigent population in a walk-in clinic. She represented domestic violence victims at 50B protective order hearings. She is trained to represent relatives seeking to adopt children in the “Grandparent Adoption Program” in North Carolina. And, she served as an attorney Guardian ad Litem in two cases.
"In one Guardian ad Litem case, Laura served to represent the best interests of a seven year old boy living with his father who was abusing drugs and placing the boy in danger, while his mother was serving in the military in Iraq. Laura was able to successfully help the court provide a temporary solution for the safe care of this child until his mother returned from her duty overseas.
"These and other activities in which Laura is involved, both directly and in the promotion of pro bono service, illustrate the value of pro bono work she contributes to individual clients and to our community. She is very deserving of the NCBA IP Section’s pro bono award."
The law firm award nomination including the following information in regard to Kilpatrick Stockton:
"Twenty Kilpatrick Stockton IP attorneys, all NCBA IP Section members, in North Carolina performed a total of 812 hours of pro bono work in 2006. This represents an average of 41 pro bono hours per attorney. The dollar value of the pro bono work provided by Kilpatrick Stockton IP attorneys in 2006 was over $249,000.00.
"Kilpatrick Stockton IP attorneys in NC participated in the 'Wills on Wheels' program, drafting wills at a clinic in Charlotte; Guardian ad Litem cases, representing the best interests of children in custody cases; Grandparent Adoption Program, program started by Kilpatrick Stockton representing low income grandparents in adoption of grandchildren and other relatives; Domestic Violence Advocacy Center cases, representing victims of domestic violence in 50B hearings; landlord-tenant cases to recover security deposits and damages from landlords; and IP and transactional work for pro bono clients.
"Kilpatrick Stockton promotes pro bono service through its policies and culture. While each attorney is required to contribute at least 30 hours of pro bono service each year (10 more hours than in previous years), the expectation is that each attorney will provide 50 hours of pro bono service. Kilpatrick Stockton subscribes to the 'ABA Pro Bono Challenge' of providing pro bono service at a level equivalent to 3% of the firm’s total billable hours. The NC IP attorneys contributed to the firm’s surpassing this goal in 2006, with 3.5% of billable hours provided as pro bono service."