The international Association for Continuing Legal Education (ACLEA) announced today that the Atlanta Bar Association received one of only 15 annual awards granted to competitors representing more than 300 organizations.

An Award for Professional Excellence was given to the Atlanta Bar Association for Pro Bono March Madness 2006, in the Best of ACLEA--Public Interest category. The Award for Professional Excellence is the top prize; only one is awarded in each category of prizes.

ACLEA members are professionals in the fields of continuing legal education and legal publishing. Its annual awards are highly competitive and winning projects represent the highest level of achievement for the staff and volunteers involved.

The Atlanta Bar Association, organized in 1888 to serve Atlanta's legal community and community-at-large, is the largest voluntary bar association in the southeast with membership of about 6,000 from the 12 counties of metro Atlanta: (Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, Paulding, and Rockdale).

In an effort to narrow the gap between adequate resources and unmet legal needs of low-income clients, the Atlanta Bar Association's CLE Board developed Pro Bono March Madness. Broadly speaking, Pro Bono March Madness provided a three-part connection between the Atlanta legal community, the pro bono legal services community, and low-income citizens with unmet legal needs. Through its volunteer training opportunities, Pro Bono March Madness supports the legal services organizations in Atlanta by giving them a forum for recruiting and training new volunteers and increasing their exposure to the organized Bar - not just the Atlanta Bar Association.

Bar volunteers involved in Pro Bono March Madness 2006 included the 2006-2007 CLE Board: Lynn Roberson, Swift, Currie, McGhee & Hiers, Chair; Michael B. Terry, Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore, Vice-Chair; Members-at-Large Dean A. Calloway, Jones Day; Michael E. Hollingsworth, Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough; Charles T. Magarahan, Magarahan, Villines & Honis; Laurin M. McSwain, Lefkoff Duncan Grimes Miller & McSwain; Anita Wallace Thomas, Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough; and Kenneth Thompson, Jr., Molden Holley Fergusson & Thompson; and Ex Officio members Elizabeth A. Price, Alston & Bird; and Richard B. Herzog, Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough. The Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, Atlanta Legal Aid Society and Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta played key roles in planning and implementing Pro Bono March Madness 2006. Mary Lynne Johnson, the Atlanta Bar's CLE Director, coordinated the work of the volunteers and supporting organizations.

ACLEA will formally present the award to the Atlanta Bar Association at the Annual Meeting of ACLEA in Philadelphia on July 31, 2007.

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