Troutman Sanders Receives National Public Service Award
Troutman Sanders was honored by the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section with a 2013 National Public Service Award in recognition of the firm’s ongoing contribution to providing pro bono business legal services to low-income individuals and nonprofit organizations. Steve Lewis and Mark VanderBroek accepted the award on the firm’s behalf. In garnering this award, the firm also received press mentions in a March 19 MidtownPatch (Atlanta) article and a March 20 Marietta Daily Journal article.
“Troutman Sanders exemplifies the characteristics the ABA Business Law Section seeks to recognize in awarding its National Public Service Award,” said Peter Carson, chair of the National Public Service Award selection committee for the ABA, in an official press release issued by Troutman Sanders. “These characteristics include a deep and sustained commitment to business law pro bono across the law firm, highlighted by singular achievements; enduring client relationships; collaborative partnerships; and innovative, needle moving signature projects.”
Troutman Sanders was nominated for the award based on the firm’s extensive, ongoing work with numerous pro bono clients including Kids In Need of Defense (KIND), the Women’s Economic Development Agency, Goodwill Industries of Central Virginia, and the Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta. The firm also has partnered with in-house legal departments at Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. and Southern Company.
Troutman Sanders’ pro bono efforts were also touted in a March 17 Atlanta Journal-Constitution article titled “A Community in Peril; Battle brews over blighted site.” This article, an examination of westside Atlanta’s Chappell Forest apartments, which are plagued with “absentee or feuding landlords, recalcitrant residents, sub-standard housing, erratic code enforcement – all set against a drug-infested, criminal backdrop,” mentioned the firm’s pro bono efforts in successfully challenging eviction notices for the residents of the complex.