Monroe County Bar Association to receive ABA's Harrison Tweed Award

Daily Record (Rochester, NY), May 23, 2008

The Monroe County Bar Association will receive the American Bar Association's 2008 Harrison Tweed Award at the ABA's annual meeting in August.

In an e-mail to members, MCBA President Thomas Smith said the honor should be celebrated by the entire legal community for supporting the Partnership for Equal Justice.

The Partnership brought Rochester's four legal service providers, the Empire Justice Center, Legal Aid Society, Monroe County Legal Assistance Center and Volunteer Legal Services Project, under one roof with the county bar and its foundation. Their new location at The Hon. Michael A. Telesca Center for Justice at 1 West Main St. is expected to improve legal services to the poor.

"This was a group effort, and it clearly is a group success story for our entire community," Smith said in the e-mail.

The award is given annually by the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants and the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, and will be presented at a joint luncheon in New York City on Friday, Aug. 8, before more than one thousand bar leaders from around the country.

The MCBA's Award Committee, chaired by Gene Clifford, submitted the nomination on behalf of the Association.

New York State Chief Judge Judith Kaye will visit the Telesca Center with Judge Telesca on June 19, and the NYSBA President's Commission on Access to Justice will hold their July meeting at the Telesca Center.