ICYMI: June 2020
This June, we focused on how we are engaging with and empowering our community. We highlighted educational opportunities for our neighbors to ask questions and learn more from our attorneys; we hosted a series of Virtual Trivia Nights as a fun way to support pro bono legal services for marginalized people; and we shared important messages and updates for our followers on community resources.
ICYMI: September 2019
In case you missed it, this September, in advance of our 25th anniversary Justice for All Gala, we featured important supporters who help make our work possible, as well as some of our favorite clients!
A Beacon of Grace: A Message from Barnes & Thornburg Partner and Clinic Board President Matthew Barr
It’s a cliché: Lawyers wear suits and ties. They carry briefcases and are serious with serious careers—the epitome of a grownup. Many days, this summary encapsulates precisely what I do. And I find the work fulfilling. But I also crave opportunities that shake up that routine, where I can use my education and stretch my legal muscles in service of the public good.
Au revoir, October!
This October, we celebrated a record-breaking Justice For All Gala, featuring keynote speaker and NYT best-selling author Bob Goff. Leading up to the event, Board Member Matthew Barr shared his thoughts on why his firm, Barnes & Thornburg LLP, chooses to financially support the Legal Clinic. After the event, we summarized some of the best JFA highlights and shared a video featuring a client family that survived a genocide in Ethiopia.
Which Path Will You Choose?: A Message from Board Member Matthew Barr
In many ways, our community is at a crossroads when it comes to helping our neighbors and friends achieve a basic level of justice. One path leads to increased marginalization of the poor and lost opportunities for parents and children struggling to keep their homes, find jobs, avoid persecution or abuse, or reenter society. Another brighter path leads to increased access to justice, providing life-changing peace of mind and hope for those in our community who currently have none.
A Leap of Faith
Upon serving as an intake attorney at John Knox Presbyterian Church back in 2006, Matthew first became aware of the need for free legal services. “I thought I was aware of it, but I really wasn’t,” he says. “Until you sit down with people who need the help, who explain their situation, who have never really been able to talk to someone who they believe can help them, and suddenly you’re sitting down in a room with them one-on-one… That’s when you realize the need that exists and the good that can come from just giving a little bit of time.”