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The Adams and Reese New Orleans office has been named a recipient of the “Pro Bono Publico” award, an award given by the Louisiana State Bar Association to a firm that has made a major contribution to the enhancement and promotion of pro bono legal services to the poor. The firm's Baton Rouge office is also receiving a "Pro Bono Publico" award for its pro bono work in the Baton Rouge community. Adams and Reese will receive both awards at this year’s LSBA Pro Bono Publico and Children’s Law Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, May 29th, at 5 p.m. in the Louisiana Supreme Court building on 400 Royal Street.
This year, Adams and Reese has been the leader in helping pro se clients at the Civil District Court Self-Help Desk, a pilot program to provide unrepresented litigants with information so they can better maneuver through the court system. More than 20 of the firm’s attorneys contributed more than 250 collective pro bono hours to The Project in a variety of cases, ranging from family law matters to construction cases, wills and successions, providing much needed help to the community’s indigent, while helping the court deal with a tidal wave of unrepresented parties. Adams and Reese has partnered with The Pro Bono Project for more than two decades, taking more than 300 cases and providing help through more than 75 attorneys.
Adams and Reese is also one of 17 law firms in New Orleans who will volunteer to work pro bono cases to relieve pressure on the Orleans Public Defenders Office, which after a budget shortfall recently laid off 27 employees, including 21 attorneys - a third of the public defenders on staff. The Louisiana State Bar Association estimates that the financial value of the legal services offered by these firms will exceed $1 million, and the firms expect to take on up to 100 cases on a pro bono basis. Officers of the LSBA met March 8th with members of the judiciary and public defender system to gain a better understanding of the current financial crisis faced by the Orleans Public Defenders Office. The Orleans Public Defenders Office represents nearly 80 percent of criminal defendants in Orleans Parish. The OPD provides client-centered legal representation in Louisiana’s criminal and juvenile justice system.
In December 2011, Adams and Reese received the Pro Bono “Law Firm of the Year” Award from The New Orleans Pro Bono Project
In 2011, Adams and Reese attorneys, throughout the firm’s 13 offices in six states, performed a total of more than 5,600 pro bono hours for more than 100 different pro bono project organizations and causes throughout the nation. Across the firm, Adams and Reese attorneys tackle a diverse scope of pro bono matters, including writing wills for first responders and helping people with estate planning matters; setting up 501(c)(3) organizations and nonprofit applications; volunteering for bar association and pro bono project legal workshops; resolving heirship property titles and land issues; easing banking concerns among foreign citizens working after Katrina; handling indigent capital appeals; dealing with divorce and custody matters, also across International borders; setting up a fund service and retrieving pensions for war veterans; and partnering with organizations to help victims gain access to justice in domestic violence disputes.
Adams and Reese is a multidisciplinary law firm with offices strategically located throughout the southern United States and Washington, DC. American Lawyer includes Adams and Reese on its distinguished list of the nation's top law firms - "The Am Law 200.” The National Law Journal also includes the firm on the "NLJ 250" list of the nation's largest law firms.