Pro Bono Awards and Recognition

Pro Bono Awards, Honor Roll and ICLE Voucher Rewards

The State Bar of Georgia Access to Justice Committee and the State Bar of Georgia Pro Bono Resource Center solicit nominations for the State Bar's Pro Bono Awards in March of each year.

Pro Bono Honor Roll

The Pro Bono Honor Roll has been expanded to recognize three levels of pro bono service.

• Silver: Attorneys who have accepted at least one civil pro bono case through a structured, coordinated civil pro bono program in Georgia in the preceding calendar year. For those who have accepted at least three civil pro bono cases from such a program, the State Bar Pro Bono Resource Center, in cooperation with the Commission on Continuing Lawyer Competency (CCLC), distributes $150 vouchers that can be applied toward the cost of any CLE program offered by ICLE in Georgia.
• Gold: Attorneys who have fulfilled the 50-hour pro bono service aspirational goal set forth in Georgia Rule of Professional Conduct 6.1(a) in the preceding calendar year.
• Platinum: Attorneys who have exceeded the Rule 6.1(a) goal by providing at least 100 hours of pro bono service in the preceding calendar year.

The names of attorneys who have provided service at the Silver level are submitted to the State Bar of Georgia each year by the structured, coordinated civil pro bono programs registered with the Pro Bono Resource Center.

Attorneys who have provided service at the Gold and Platinum level, including but not limited to service with registered programs, are requested to share with us their pro bono service hours during each annual reporting period. PLEASE NOTE: The Honor Roll will be open through March 31, 2024, for submissions of 2023 pro bono activity.

Lawyers can share their pro bono service hours beginning in December of a calendar year through March of the following year to appear on the Pro Bono Honor Roll page.

The Honor Roll participation link will ask for the following information:

1. Pro bono attorney name.
2. Georgia Bar number.
3. Certification that, in the preceding calendar year, the attorney provided at least 50 hours/at least 100 hours of pro bono legal services under the definition set forth in Georgia Rule of Professional Conduct 6.1(a).

Total number of pro bono hours served in the preceding calendar year. We do not publish the hours you share.

State Bar of Georgia Pro Bono Award Descriptions

The H. Sol Clark Award is named for former Court of Appeals of Georgia Judge Clark of Savannah, who is known as the “father of legal aid in Georgia.” The prestigious Clark Award honors an individual lawyer who has excelled in one or more of a variety of activities that extend civil legal services to the poor.

The William B. Spann Jr. Award is given each year to a local bar association, law firm or community organization in Georgia that has developed a civil pro bono program that has satisfied previously unmet legal needs or extended services to underserved segments of the population. The award is named for a former president of the American Bar Association and former executive director of the State Bar of Georgia.

The Dan Bradley Award honors the memory of Georgia native and Mercer Law graduate Dan J. Bradley, who was president of the federal Legal Services Corporation from 1979 to 1982. He is credited by many with having been instrumental in saving the Legal Services Corporation, which funds programs like Georgia Legal Services Program and the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, from elimination in the early 1980s. The Dan Bradley Legal Services Award recognizes the work of an Atlanta Legal Aid or Georgia Legal Services Program attorney who has excelled in the commitment to the delivery of quality legal services to the poor and to providing equal access to justice.

The A Business Commitment Award is presented by the State Bar of Georgia Pro Bono Resource Center to honor the business law pro bono contributions of an individual lawyer, corporate legal department or law firm to the nonprofit community and community economic development sector in Georgia.

The Law School Excellence in Access to Justice Award was created by the State Bar of Georgia Access to Justice Committee and the State Bar of Georgia Young Lawyers Division. The Law School Excellence in Access to Justice Award is open to all law students currently enrolled in or graduating from an accredited Georgia law school.

The Law School Excellence in Access to Justice Award will recognize an individual law student or law student group or group activity. The award specifically recognizes a law student who has excelled in participation in support of a civil pro bono or legal aid program or who has developed or has been instrumental in the development of a civil pro bono program satisfying previously unmet civil legal needs or extended services to underserved segments of the population. The award may also specifically recognize a law student-led group or activity that has demonstrated an effective mechanism in addressing the civil legal needs of the community or that has demonstrated a high level of participation and commitment of its members to provision of civil legal services to the poor in the community.

All law-related activities for which the nominee is credited must be within the realm of those permitted for law students or under the direction of a lawyer or law school program.

State Bar of Georgia Pro Bono Award Recipients