LawHelp/NY Consortium is Named Finalist for $250,000 Nonprofit Collaboration Prize

The LawHelp/NY Consortium, a group of nonprofit legal services organizations that support the statewide legal information and referral website LawHelp.org/NY, has been  named one of eight finalists for The Collaboration Prize:

The Lodestar Foundation, in association with the Arizona-Indiana-Michigan (AIM) Alliance, created The Collaboration Prize in an effort to demonstrate how nonprofit resources can be used more effectively to create greater impact. The LawHelp/NY Consortium, which is made up of 11 legal aid, bar and pro bono organizations throughout the state, was selected from a competitive pool of over 644 U.S.-based nominations.

Congratulations to the City Bar Justice Center, Legal Services NYC, The Legal Aid Society of New York, Pro Bono Net, Volunteers of Legal Service, Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York, Empire Justice Center, New York State Bar Association, Legal Assistance of Western New York, Legal Services of the Hudson Valley and Nassau/Suffolk Law Services on making LawHelp/NY a national model for collaboration in the nonprofit legal sector! -M

Law Technology News Announces Law Firm Winners of Sixth Annual Technology Awards

LTN has announced the winners of the sixth annual Law Technology News Awards. Among the award categories is “most innovative use of technology for a pro bono project,” which was won by Miriam Buhl, pro bono counsel at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, for their implementation of Pro Bono Net’s Pro Bono Manager software:

To help make the practice of pro bono more effective and efficient for its 1,300 attorneys in 20 offices, Miriam Buhl and others at Weil teamed with Pro Bono Net, an organization that serves the public interest legal community. Weil became the first user of Pro Bono Manager, PBN’s new commercial software product that integrates content from the public interest legal community (including training events, volunteer opportunities and news) with powerful pro bono reporting, knowledge management and lawyer matching tools.

Congratulations to Miriam, Weil and Pro Bono Net! -M

Nominations for the 2009 Brown Award for Legal Access

The ABA Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services is currently seeking nominations for the 2009 Louis M. Brown Award for Legal Access, which “recognizes programs and projects that have made innovative and/or substantial contributions toward meeting the legal needs of people with moderate incomes.” Details about the Award and the nomination process are available here. The deadline is December 15, 2008. -M

LawHelp/NY Named Semifinalist for The Collaboration Prize

The New York LawHelp Consortium has been chosen as a semifinalist for The Collaboration Prize, a new $250,000 award that recognizes and encourages collaboration among nonprofit organizations. Made up of 11 legal aid, bar and pro bono organizations, the New York LawHelp Consortium was nominated for the prize by the Hon. Juanita Bing Newton, Deputy Chief Administrative Judge for Justice Initiatives for the New York State Unified Court System. It is among 30 semifinalists chosen from 644 nominations. The press release is available here. Congrats LawHelp/NY! -M

James I. Keane Memorial Award for Excellence in eLawyering

Nominations are open for the second annual James I. Keane Memorial Award for Excellence in eLawyering, which is awarded by the Law Practice Management Section of the American Bar Association to law offices or legal organizations that have developed legal service innovations delivered over the Internet. The Award Guidelines and Nomination Forms can be found here. The deadline for submission is January 15, 2009. -M (Thanks, Marc.)

Richard Zorza Recognized for Access-to-Justice Work

The American Judicature Society recognized Richard Zorza for his contributions to access to justice with the 2008 Kathleen M. Sampson Access to Justice Award. This award was presented last week at the Court Solutions Conference in Baltimore, Maryland. Congratulations, Richard! – K

Techno.la Makes WordPress Blogs of the Day

On August 22, 2008, techno.la made the WordPress Blogs of the Day, which features WordPress.com blogs that have gained the most popularity. It’s not quite Alltop, but not a bad showing among the other 3,904,806 or so WordPress.com blogs. -M

Congrats, Marnie!

Congratulations to Marnie Webb for making The Nonprofit Times’ list of The 2008 NPT Power & Influence TOP 50. Marnie is one of the CEO’s at TechSoup and has been a huge force behind NetSquared, which is a forum for discussing the web’s social tools. – K