Legal Services Corporation Honors Arizona Attorneys for Pro Bono Service
Contact
Carl Rauscher
Director of Communications and Media Relations
rauscherc@lsc.gov
202-295-1615
PHOENIX, ARIZONA—Legal Services Corporation (LSC) will recognize six Arizona attorneys for pro bono service at an Increasing Access to Justice Reception in conjunction with its quarterly Board of Directors meeting. The reception and awards presentation will take place at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel on Monday, January 23 from 5:30 – 7:30 pm MST.
Distinguished local and national leaders will share remarks at the reception, including Arizona Supreme Court Vice Chief Justice, Ann A. Scott Timmer; Arizona Court of Appeals Judge, Samuel Thumma; Dean & Ralph W. Bilby Professor of Law at the University of Arizona College of Law, Marc Miller; and CEO and Executive Director of the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services & Education, Dr. Kevin Ruegg.
LSC will present Pro Bono Service Awards to six Arizonans for their significant contributions to promoting access to justice through pro bono services. The recipients were nominated by local LSC grantee organizations, Community Legal Services (CLS), DNA-Peoples Legal Services (DNA) and Southern Arizona Legal Aid (SALA).
The award recipients are:
- Diane Drain founded the Law Office of D.L. Drain, P.A. in 1990. She has volunteered with CLS’ Volunteer Lawyers Program (VLP) since 1994, providing pro bono legal assistance in bankruptcy cases. She also serves on the VLP’s advisory committee, and provides free consultations through the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Self-Service Center.
- Edwin Ramos is an attorney and managing partner at De La Ossa and Ramos, PLLC. He has volunteered with CLS' VLP in the Children’s Law Clinic since 2016, working on minor guardianship cases. He also regularly assists CLS’ Medical Legal Partnership by calling applicants and offering brief services. Last year, he provided more than 200 hours of pro bono legal assistance.
- David Engelman is attorney and shareholder at Engelman Berger, PC. He volunteered with CLS for 41 years, providing several thousand hours of pro bono services. In 2022 he came to DNA to train in-house attorneys on handling bankruptcy cases and help the organization establish a bankruptcy clinic.
- Kelly Rowe is an author and volunteer attorney offering pro bono services for immigration cases with DNA since 2015. Due to the complexity of immigration cases, she has been dedicatedly serving some clients for several years.
- Judge James Conlogue served on the Cochise County Superior Court for 26 years before retiring in 2020. He has provided pro bono services in SALA’s Family Law Clinic and Rural Clinic, leading 133 clinics for more than 300 attendees in less than two years. He was recently appointed to SALA’s Board of Directors.
- Benjamin Smith is an attorney who dedicates his practice to pro bono work. Since 2007, he has worked with SALA’s Family Law Clinic, primarily assisting clients with domestic violence cases. SALA estimates that he has assisted approximately 8,700 clients over the course of almost 1,650 clinics and 135 direct representation cases. His clinic hours alone add up to nearly 5,000 hours of service.