Pro Bono Awards Announced For 2009

Article Date: Monday, May 04, 2009

Tom Berkau works the 4ALL phones.

The North Carolina Bar Association, in conjunction with the NCBA Foundation’s Public Service Advisory Committee, will present the 2009 Pro Bono Service Awards during the 111th NCBA Annual Meeting, scheduled June 25-28 at the Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa in Asheville.

 

The awards will be presented on Friday, June 26, during the President’s Luncheon.

 

Thomas Berkau of Smithfield is the 2009 recipient of the William L. Thorp Award, presented annually since 1984 by the NCBA. The award recognizes the Pro Bono Attorney of the Year and was named in memory of Bill Thorp, a founder of Legal Services of North Carolina, in 2002.

 

A solo practitioner, Berkau is a past chair of the Public Service Advisory Committee who serves as the NCBA's representative to Legal Aid of North Carolina’s statewide board of directors. He has been a longtime pro bono advocate and volunteer for approximately 30 years.

 

The 2009 recipient of the Deborah Greenblatt Outstanding Legal Services Attorney Award is Christine Trottier of Disability Rights NC in Raleigh.

 

Trottier has worked on behalf of people with disabilities in state and federal courts for more than 30 years. For many of those years, she worked with the award’s namesake, the late Debbie Greenblatt, on impact litigation, including class action work for people with disabilities.

 

The Large Law Firm Pro Bono Award recipient is Hunton & Williams of Raleigh and Charlotte. The attorneys of Hunton and Williams have demonstrated an exemplary commitment to pro bono service this year with nearly all of its lawyers participating in pro bono projects in North Carolina.

 

Charlotte School of Law will receive the Law Students Pro Bono Project Award in recognition of the pro bono activities of its students, many of whom comprise this year’s charter class of CharlotteLaw graduates.

Laura Slaughter of King Law Offices in Rutherfordton is the recipient of the Younger Lawyer Pro Bono Award, presented by the NCBA Young Lawyers Division. She is being recognized for her pro bono service through the Mountain Area Volunteer Lawyer Program in her first year of practicing law. The MAVL, which has been recognized previously by the NCBA Foundation, operates a referral panel of pro bono attorneys to assist low income residents of Buncombe, Henderson, Madison, Polk, Rutherford and Transylvania counties.