Pro Bono

Columbus Bar Foundation Pro Bono Awards

The Columbus Bar Foundation annually recognizes excellence in the Pro Bono area. Recipients of awards are honored at the Columbus Bar Foundation Annual Meeting.

2008 Award Recipients

Outstanding pro bono service by an individual
Brian Basil is a partner at Murray Murphy & Basil, a firm specializing in complex litigation and corporate practice and is a model for how to be a successful lawyer and integrate pro bono into one's practice. Since entering practice in 1995, Brian's commitment to pro bono representation has had a tremendous impact on those he has served. For more than 5 years, Brian provided pro bono representation and counsel to the Homeless Families Foundation. Brian utilized his significant expertise in business to counsel the Foundation in a wide variety of areas including drafting corporate documents, reviewing contracts and preparing internal policies and manuals.

For more than a year, Brian has provided substantial pro bono representation to the Church for All People, a non-profit organization that serves the near east side Parsons Avenue in Columbus. Through his efforts, Brian has been providing his expertise in business and real estate transactions to bring about co-operative ownership housing to the neighborhood. Brain drafted by-laws and other documents required to finalize the transaction and have provided substantial guidance to both the staff and the Board of Church for All People on a number of business and tax related issues. Because of Brian's efforts, this non-profit organization is stronger and has been able to expand the services it provides to low income individuals and families in the neighborhood.

Brian also has been working closely with Columbus Legal Aid and the attorneys working in the community/economic development unit. Through this partnership, Brian has mentored attorneys, shared his expertise in business and tax matters.

Brian is one of the best examples of how critical pro bono services fill unmet legal needs in our community and we applaud his leadership and dedication.

Outstanding pro bono service by a corporation
Nationwide Insurance Company Thirty-one Nationwide volunteers partnered with the Legal Aid Society of Columbus and Vorys Sater Seymour and Pease to hold the first Clinic in a Box in central Ohio, a pro bono program providing a "legal health check-up" for non-profit organizations serving low-income population throughout Central Ohio.

As part of National Adoption Month, members of Nationwide's legal department helped to finalize adoptions for approximately 20 children. Following CLE training, Franklin County Children Services assigned each Nationwide attorney a foster family to shepherd through the adoption process.

Outstanding Pro Bono Project
Save the Dream - Ohio's foreclosure prevention program Since April 2008, more than 300 attorneys in Columbus have volunteered to provide assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure. In order to qualify for this program a client must live in the home and have the means to continue to make mortgage payments once an agreement is made between the client and the mortgage company.

In the first quarter this year, there have been 366 referrals made to Legal Aids offices around the state; 279 open cases; and 66 cases either settled or mediated. This is the state's ongoing effort to keep those people in their homes who cannot afford to hire an attorney.