OLAF | OLAF Honors Law Firms From Akron/Cleveland, Dayton and Columbus

Press Release

OLAF Honors Law Firms From Akron/Cleveland, Dayton and Columbus

May 1999

The Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation (OLAF) honored three small firms for their outstanding pro bono contributions in serving disabled Ohio children.

OLAF is a statutorily-created non-profit agency charged with improving access to justice for poor Ohioans. The OLAF Presidential Award is presented annually to law firms or individuals who have made outstanding efforts in improving access to justice through pro bono, or volunteer service.

This year's recipients have been very involved with OLAF's statewide pro bono project which assists low-income families with disabled children. Under terms of Congressional legislation, the definition of who qualifies as a disabled child changed. This required thousands of families across the United States who received termination notices to engage in a review process through the Social Security Administration in order to maintain benefits for their children.OLAF established a statewide hotline for families to call for advice and information on the appeals process. Low-income families were then linked with a volunteer lawyer who provided representation during the appeals process. OLAF recruited and trained more than 600 lawyers statewide to provide volunteer services to these families.

"The law firms we are honoring have been vital in the success of the statewide project to serve low-income disabled children with legal needs," said OLAF Board President, Thomas V. Chema.

"When a law firm makes a strong commitment to pro bono service, those lawyers are representing the very best ideals within the legal profession by improving access to justice. They set an example for us all and we are grateful for their important work," Chema said.

The three firms that were presented the OLAF Presidential Award are: Sternberg, Newman, Shifrin & Associates of Akron; Barkan + Neff of Columbus; and Faruki, Gilliam & Ireland of Dayton.

Sternberg, Newman, Shifrin & Associates is a firm that has been together for three years and provides representation throughout northeast Ohio on Social Security matters. There are four lawyers and one of counsel attorney at the firm. Dianne Newman and Debra Shifrin of the firm are particularly involved with the OLAF project in serving as mentors to volunteer lawyers who do not have much experience representing Social Security claimants.

The Columbus office of the Barkan + Neff law firm has also been extremely supportive of the OLAF project. Barkan + Neff is a plaintiff's law firm providing representation in Social Security matters, workers compensation, personal injury issues and other areas of law. The firm has 18 lawyers in offices in Columbus, Marietta and Delaware, as well as Tampa and Ft. Myers in Florida, and New Orleans and Baton Rouge in Louisiana. Eileen Goodin and Julie Smith have provided training services for volunteer lawyers in the program and provide assistance and expertise to other volunteers, in addition to handling several pro bono referrals with families in need.

The Dayton firm of Faruki, Gilliam & Ireland has been very involved with the Disabled Kids project. This 22-lawyer firm provides civil litigation services and has been in operation for the past ten years. The firm has provided services to many low-income families in the Montgomery County area.

"Small law firms often have limited resources. But these firms have found a way to make substantial contributions through pro bono service and have shown a commitment to the ideal of justice for all," said Chema.

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