Miscellaneous
On February 28, 2019, The Bar Association of St. Louis (BAMSL) announced the winners of its 2018 Hon. Richard B. Teitelman Memorial St. Louis Pro Bono Challenge Awards at a luncheon held at the St. Louis Club. Hon. Douglas R. Beach, St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge (retired), provided the keynote address. Sara Neill, BAMSL President-Elect, was master of ceremonies. Firms that joined the Challenge reported providing more than 40,503 hours of pro bono legal services to the community during 2018. The 2018 award winners are Ruth Schneider with RCJ Law, LLC, who reported providing 334.4 hours, and Dowd Bennett LLP, which reported an average of 69 hours per attorney. In 2017, BAMSL partnered with Legal Services of Eastern Missouri (LSEM) to implement this exciting program to encourage and support pro bono legal services, and to publicly recognize those lawyers and law firms who step up to the Challenge. Thanks to the efforts of the 19 firms participating in the 2017 Challenge, 32,054 hours of pro bono legal work was provided to the St. Louis community in 2017. The Challenge was renewed for 2018, and again for 2019. Participating firms sign a ceremonial pledge that is on display at the BAMSL Bar Center. In two years, BAMSL members have provided more than 72,500 hours of pro bono legal work for people in need in our community. Participating firms pledge to actively encourage pro bono and strive to perform a total of 10 hours of pro bono on average per year per attorney located in St. Louis. For example, a firm of 50 local attorneys would commit to an annual total of 500 hours. Please excuse the audio quality. This was recorded live at a luncheon event. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/stlmetrobar/message