John C. McAndrews Pro Bono Service Award
The Illinois State Bar Association Committee on Delivery of Legal Services is seeking nominations for the 2009-2010 ISBA John C. McAndrews Pro Bono Service Award. The award is named in memory of Rock Island attorney John McAndrews, who chaired the ISBA Committee on Delivery of Legal Services and is awarded to individual lawyers, law firms and corporate law departments, and bar associations. The Illinois Bar Foundation will award a $1,000 grant in honor of each John C. McAndrews Award recipient to the Illinois not-for-profit legal aid organization through which the awardee provides pro bono legal services. The Illinois Bar Foundation, in partnership with the Illinois State Bar Association, seeks to enhance the recognition of this prestigious award as part of the Foundation’s effort to encourage and acknowledge pro bono legal work.
The contributions of John McAndrews toward pro bono representation dated back to the 1970s, when he established the Legal Aid Services of Rock Island County and served as its executive director in the basement of the courthouse. During his watch as chair of the ISBA Committee on Delivery of Legal Services, McAndrews was the driving force behind establishment of the Illinois Pro Bono Center as integral to implementation of findings of the Illinois Legal Needs Study that about a million unresolved civil matters involving low-income residents were unmet each year. Also a past chair of the ISBA Human Rights Section Council, he also had received an ISBA Board of Governors Award in 1993 for his work on the Pro Bono Center project.
The ISBA has established the John C. McAndrews Award to honor the extraordinary commitment of individuals, bar associations, or law firm/corporate legal departments to providing free legal services to the income eligible in Illinois or expanding the availability of legal services to the income eligible in Illinois. Presentation of the awards will take place during the ISBA Annual Meeting in June 2010.
Nominations must be received by March 15, 2010.
Required Information for Nominations:
(Please see nomination form for a complete list of requirements.)
- Name, firm, address, email address, fax, and telephone number of the Nominee.
- Nominator (if different from the nominee, please include contact information and member number)
- Number of clients served pro bono in the last year
- Description of cases
- Estimate of number of pro bono hours.
- A résumé or summary about the individual being nominated.