D.C. Bar Seeks Nominations for 2010 Beatrice Rosenberg Award
The D.C. Bar is calling for nominations for the 2010 Beatrice Rosenberg Award for Excellence in Government Service.

The award is presented annually to a D.C. Bar member whose career exemplifies the highest order of public service. In keeping with the exceptional accomplishments of Ms. Rosenberg, nominees should have demonstrated outstanding professional judgment throughout long-term government careers, worked intentionally to share their expertise as mentors to younger government lawyers, and devoted significant personal energies to public or community service.

The Bar established the award in honor of Beatrice “Bea” Rosenberg who dedicated 35 years of her career to government service and performed with distinction at the U.S. Department of Justice and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She also served as a member of the Board on Professional Responsibility.

The 2010 presentation of the Rosenberg Award will be made on April 9 at the D.C. Judicial and Bar Conference’s keynote luncheon. In 2009 the award was presented to Catherine G. O’Sullivan, chief of the Appellate Section for the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department.

Nominees must be members of the D.C. Bar and current or former employees of any local, state, or federal government agency.

Submissions must be received by October 30. Nominations may be submitted online at www.dcbar.org/rosenbergaward or in writing to Katherine A. Mazzaferri, Executive Director, District of Columbia Bar, 1101 K Street NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20005-4210.

For more information on the Beatrice Rosenberg Award, e-mail rosenbergaward@dcbar.org. —K.A.

Bar Publishes 18th Edition of D.C. Practice Manual
The 18th edition of The D.C. Practice Manual is available to purchase for $265.

This two-volume manual is an important resource that provides information on the basics of practicing law in the District of Columbia and includes citations to key statutes, regulations, court rules, and cases, as well as relevant forms.

The 18th edition includes 25 revised chapters covering a range of topics: administrative procedures, alternative dispute resolution, antitrust, appellate practice in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, art, child abuse and neglect, commercial law, consumer protection, corporate practice, criminal law and practice, criminal traffic offenses, domestic relations, employment law, environmental law, government contracts, Health Maintenance Organization Act, intervention proceedings, legal ethics and attorney discipline, mental health proceedings, partnerships, personal injury, taxation, United States District Court practice, wills and estates, and workers’ compensation.

To purchase the 18th edition of The D.C. Practice Manual, call 202-737-4700, ext. 3268, or visit www.dcbar.org/publications.

Suspended Members Must Pay Additional Fees for Reinstatement
D.C. Bar members who automatically were suspended for nonpayment of dues and/or late fees by September 30 must pay an additional $50 for reinstatement.

Dues amounts are $224 for active members, $126 for inactive members, and $113 for judicial members. Late fees are $30. When paying dues, members also may join a section or renew their section memberships and make contributions to the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Program.

To pay dues online, members should log on to www.dcbar.org/login. Members will need their username and password, which automatically can be retrieved if their e-mail address matches what the Bar has on file. As an added convenience, the Bar now accepts American Express.

E-mail addresses can be checked by visiting www.dcbar.org, selecting the “Find a Member” button at the top right side of the page, and locating the individual record. If the e-mail address is incorrect, corrections may be sent to memberservices@dcbar.org.

Members are encouraged to confirm all of their personal information on the dues statement, including e-mail addresses.

Federal Government Program Receives ABA Award
On August 3 the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service presented the Federal Government Pro Bono Program and four other honorees with its Pro Bono Publico Award during the ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago.

The award recognizes lawyers, law firms, law schools, government attorney offices, corporate law departments, and other legal institutions for their pro bono contributions.

“The Federal Government Pro Bono Program is truly honored to receive the ABA Pro Bono Publico Award. This award is a testament to the efforts of our federal attorneys who not only choose a career in public service, but also contribute their evenings and weekends to those in need of help. The extraordinary men and women who participate in the pro bono program do not seek or expect recognition, but this award indicates that their efforts are appreciated,” said Laura Klein, pro bono program manager at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Led by the Justice Department, the Federal Government Pro Bono Program encourages and assists government lawyers who want to take part in pro bono work.

Government lawyers face unique challenges when it comes to providing volunteer legal services—they must perform any pro bono work on their own time, use their own resources, and be aware of potential conflicts of interest. Prior to the creation of the program, government attorneys had little or no guidance on how to get involved in pro bono work.

In 1996, however, President Bill Clinton issued an executive order directing federal agencies to encourage their lawyers to participate in pro bono work. In response to that order, the Justice Department created the first federal agency pro bono program and formed the Interagency Pro Bono Working Group, which assists agencies in drafting pro bono policies, promoting the federal government’s pro bono efforts, and expanding the pro bono program to other agencies and cities. The committee now has 36 participating agencies.

By working with local legal services providers such as the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Program, the Legal Aid Society, and the Neighborhood Legal Services Program, the Federal Government Pro Bono Program has recruited attorneys to provide legal services in various capacities. The program’s attorneys perform direct representation, mediation, and transactional work, as well as provide brief advice to low-income residents of the District of Columbia.

Propelled by its success in the District, the program expanded its efforts to Chicago in 2008 and recently initiated outreach efforts in New York City.

The other Pro Bono Publico Award recipients were Hope Olsson, an attorney at Olsson, Fedder LLP in Rochester, New York; Gordon Erspamer, senior counsel at Morrison & Foerster LLP in San Francisco; the Holocaust Survivors Justice Network; and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. —K.A.

OFF THE BEAT

D.C. Legal Services Providers Struggle During Recession
Since 1999 the D.C. Law Students in Court Program (LSIC) has held its annual Lever Awards Dinner in October. Not only is the dinner the organization’s biggest fundraising event, it also is a chance for LSIC to recognize its donors for their contributions. But this October is different.

“It’s a wonderful dinner; we love the tradition of it and it brings together a lot of the community that traditionally supports LSIC, but it’s also very expensive to put on and we figured that in this tough economic environment, it was not the time to have an expensive dinner,” said LSIC Executive Director Mary Brittingham.

LSIC is far from being alone in its predicament. Legal services providers—and nonprofits in general—in the District are facing the dual challenge of decreased funding and increased demand for civil legal services.

“We have definitely been affected by the economy,” said Maria Foscarinis, founder and executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (NLCHP).

“With the foreclosure crisis, more and more people are becoming homeless, which creates more work for us, while at the same time our organization is being affected by the downturn because funders are cutting back.”

Foundation Funding and Law Firm Giving
The D.C. Bar Foundation is one of those funding sources that have had to cut back.

In June the foundation had to dip into its reserves to award $1.1 million in grants—50 percent less than last year’s—to 25 civil legal services organizations serving the District.

The foundation has two different grant rounds: one is publicly funded while the other is supported by law firm contributions and Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts (IOLTA) returns. Both funding sources were hit by the recession, especially IOLTA, since its revenues are driven by interest rates.

According to Bar Foundation Executive Director Katherine Garrett, IOLTA revenues are 60 percent lower this year than they were the previous year.

Garrett said there was a slight dent in law firm contributions as well—some firms increased or kept their contributions the same, while a few were not in a position to give or had to decrease their funding commitments. But while the economy has forced some law firms to reduce or remove their contributions, Garrett said the foundation is fortunate that the District’s law firm community is deeply committed to providing direct and financial support for legal services.

Jonathan Smith, executive director of the Legal Aid Society, said local legal services providers have fared better than those in other cities because of the strong support from law firms.

“One of the things D.C. has is a much more diverse funding base than other cities; in most urban centers there is some support from the law firm community, but there are few cities where law is the home industry,” he said.

City Budget Cuts
The publicly funded grants, while not affected by the economy this year, will total at least $700,000 less in 2010 because of last-minute cuts in the District budget.

Since 2007 the Council of the District of Columbia has allocated money to fund civil legal services in the District.

The council was set to allocate $3.56 million for fiscal year 2010, but when a large decrease in city revenue projections came up shortly before the budget was to be passed, Mayor Adrian Fenty proposed cutting legal services support by 50 percent.

After supporters of civil legal services organizations campaigned and testified before the council against the cuts, the District government moved to slash its funding by about 20 percent.

Smith, who was among those who testified before the council, was happy that further cuts were avoided, but worries about the impact of any reduction in funding on legal services providers.

“It comes at a time when you have increased need because more families are moving into poverty and social services are unable to provide assistance, so the need for legal assistance has gone up significantly almost across the board….Our ability to meet that need has gone down because virtually every sector of funding for civil legal services [with the exception of the federal legal services corporation grant to the Neighborhood Legal Services Program] has seen a substantial decline. That’s why the city’s contribution to civil legal services is so important,” Smith said.

Listening Sessions and Surveys
In January the Bar Foundation, knowing that there was going to be a substantial reduction in funds, held a series of listening sessions with legal services providers and with law firm pro bono counsel in an attempt to set priorities in its grant-making process.

The sessions revealed that most providers were struggling to deal with the poor economy and many were uncertain about the future.

LSIC was one of the providers that participated in the listening sessions. Brittingham said it was clear from the session she participated in that legal services providers were facing problems similar (if not more severe) to those of her own organization—lack of funding, whether from individuals or foundations, and not being able to replace staff.

Brittingham said LSIC traditionally has six supervisors in its civil division section but has been down to four supervisors for more than a year now, causing a strain on staff attorneys who are taxed with both supervising and teaching students and making sure the organization’s mission to provide quality legal services to the disadvantaged is met.

“I think people are feeling overburdened; they’re all working hard and our clients are being well-served still, but I think it’s at a personal cost to our staff,” she said.

According to an informal poll conducted by the D.C. Consortium of Legal Services Providers earlier this year, there are 17 fewer lawyers and eight fewer paralegals or social workers at legal service providers in the District compared to last year, mostly due to vacancies not being filled.

Smith, whose organization is a member of the consortium and who sits on its steering committee, said the poll also showed that some providers have employed furloughs and salary cuts to deal with decreased funding.

What worries Smith the most, however, is that several providers have dipped into their reserves in order to stay afloat.

“I think we’re going to see some programs shrink dramatically over the year and I think we may see some programs cease to exist; at this point I think it’s unavoidable,” he said.

Making Cuts
One smaller organization that has been struggling to navigate the rough economy is the Frederick B. Abramson Memorial Foundation, which provides college scholarships to economically disadvantaged District high school seniors. The foundation also awarded fellowships to graduating law students, judicial law clerks, or practicing attorneys wishing to work in public interest law, but this year it had to suspend its fellowship program because of lack of funding.

While getting rid of its fellowship program was the most dramatic change the foundation has had to make, it’s not the only one—the number and amount of scholarships has been reduced by about 50 percent and the organization’s spring fundraising gala was canceled.

“We knew [the decrease in funding] was coming and we tried to scale back to blunt some of the effect, but it’s difficult when you have a 30 percent drop in the amount of funding that you receive. It’s hard to maintain the programming that you have in place,” said Richard Hanks, Abramson Foundation president.

NLCHP did not eliminate its annual McKinney-Vento Awards dinner this year, but Foscarinis said her organization has “worked hard to cut everything we could cut,” which was difficult given that NLCHP has always operated on a lean budget, even in good years.

A Different Type of Recession
Legal services providers have had to survive during tough economic times before, but long-timers in the legal services community say this recession is unlike others they have experienced in the past.

“It’s not as if we haven’t had our share of financial challenges, but this is different because it has been so all-encompassing and has affected really every aspect of our sources of revenue,” said Foscarinis.

Garrett and Smith voiced similar sentiments.

“The Bar Foundation has ridden the waves of economic change over the years. If you take a look at the historical IOLTA income, it goes up and down as interest rates go up and down. We established a reserve fund precisely to smooth out these dips, but I don’t think that anybody projected such a significant economic plunge. I don’t know of a single organization with a reserve sufficient for the time it will take to recover,” said Garrett.

“The quickness with which this came on and the depths to which it got to in terms of decreases in funding, I think was a surprise…. There’s a lot of uncertainty,” said Smith. —K.A.

SAVE THE DATE! 2010 D.C. JUDICIAL AND BAR CONFERENCE
The 2010 D.C. Judicial and Bar Conference will be held on Thursday, April 8, and Friday, April 9, at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Please continue to check our Web site at www.dcbar.org/conference as details emerge. For more information, contact Verniesa R. Allen at 202-737-4700, ext. 3239. —K.A.

Chief Judge Washington Joins NCSC Board
In August, District of Columbia Court of Appeals Chief Judge Eric T. Washington joined the board of directors of the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) where he will serve a three-year term.

“Chief Judge Washington has experienced the courtroom from in front of the bench as well as from behind it. His unique perspective of the courts, coupled with his dedication to civic and charitable organizations, will make him an invaluable member of the National Center’s board,” NCSC President Mary McQueen said.

NCSC is a Williamsburg, Virginia-based nonprofit that seeks to improve the administration of justice through leadership and service to the nation’s state courts. It was founded in 1971 by the Conference of Chief Justices and then-U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren E. Burger. The organization provides education, training, and technology, management, and research services to state courts.

Washington was appointed to the D.C. Court of Appeals in 1999 by President Bill Clinton and has served as the court’s chief judge since August 2005.

For more information on the National Center for State Courts, visit www.ncsconline.org. —K.A.

Bar Members Must Complete Practice Course
New members of the D.C. Bar are reminded that they have 12 months from the date of admission to complete the required course on District of Columbia practice offered by the D.C. Bar Continuing Legal Education Program.

D.C. Bar members who have been inactive, retired, or voluntarily resigned for five years or more also are required to complete the course if they are seeking to switch or be reinstated to active member status. In addition, members who have been suspended for five years or more for nonpayment of dues or late fees are required to take the course to be reinstated.

New members who do not complete the mandatory course requirement within 12 months of admission receive a noncompliance notice and a final 60-day window in which to comply. After that date, the Bar administratively suspends individuals who have not completed the course and forwards their names to the clerks of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, and to the Office of Bar Counsel.

Suspensions become a permanent part of members’ records. To be reinstated, one must complete the course and pay a $50 fee.

The preregistration fee is $219; the on-site fee is $279. The next course dates are October 6, November 7, and December 8. Advanced registration is encouraged.

For more information or to register online, visit www.dcbar.org/mandatorycourse.

Bar’s Board of Governors Acts on Revisions to IOLTA Rules
In September the D.C. Bar Board of Governors voted to recommend proposed revisions to the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct Governing Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts to the D.C. Court of Appeals. The Board of Governors approved a new comment to Rule 1.15 and voted to exclude a proposed provision to monitor Bar members’ participation in IOLTA.

The Board of Governors’ action comes after it voted in July to recommend to the court proposed revisions to IOLTA rules that would make participation in the IOLTA program mandatory for Bar members. The Board of Governors also recommended adopting interest rate comparability provisions for banking institutions in which Bar members are permitted to hold client funds. The Board of Governors will forward all of the proposed revisions to the D.C. Court of Appeals for its consideration.

The Bar’s Rules of Professional Conduct Review Committee drafted the revisions, which allow an exemption from IOLTA participation only if a lawyer is otherwise compliant with contrary mandates of a tribunal, or when a lawyer is participating in, and compliant with, trust accounting rules and the IOLTA program of the jurisdiction where the lawyer is licensed and principally practices.

During its September meeting, the Board of Governors approved a new comment to Rule 1.15 to provide guidance on good-faith determinations about where a multijurisdictional lawyer “principally practices.”

It also voted to exclude from the proposed changes a provision seeking to monitor Bar members’ participation in the IOLTA program by the D.C. Bar Foundation. This decision was reached after the Board on Professional Responsibility expressed concern about potential disciplinary implications and after questions were raised about the details of the foundation’s proposal.

The Board of Governors agreed to reserve the monitoring provision for further study and forward the rest of the proposed Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts revisions to the Court of Appeals for its consideration.—K.A.

Reach D.C. Bar staff writer Kathryn Alfisi at kalfisi@dcbar.org.