Atlanta - The new Pro Bono Task Force announced this week by the Legal Services Corp. (LSC) Board of Directors includes three members of the State Bar of Georgia.

Michael L. Monahan, pro bono director of the State Bar of Georgia Pro Bono Project/Georgia Legal Services Program, Teresa W. Roseborough, deputy general counsel of MetLife, and Frank B. Strickland, partner at Strickland Brockington Lewis LLP in Atlanta, will serve on the task force, appointed for the purpose of developing additional resources to assist low-income Americans facing foreclosure, domestic violence and other civil legal problems.

Monahan is a former managing attorney of the Georgia Legal Services Program and was a significant force in establishing GeorgiaAdvocates.org, Georgia's online poverty law resource for pro bono and legal services attorneys, and LegalAid-GA.org. He discusses Georgia's legal landscape on his blog, Lawscape.

Roseborough, an Atlanta resident, served as a deputy assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice during the Clinton administration and was also a partner at the Sutherland law firm in Atlanta. As senior chief litigation counsel at MetLife, she leads a department of 62 associates and supervises MetLife's litigation activities worldwide.

Strickland served as chairman of the LSC Board from 2003 through 2010. He has served on the State Bar's Board of Governors since 1985 and is a past president of the Atlanta Bar Association. He is also a member of Georgia's Judicial Nominating Commission and is a past chairman of the State Ethics Commission, past general counsel of the Georgia Republican Party and past director of the Georgia Legal Services Program, Atlanta Legal Aid Society and Federal Defender Program Inc.

"Our State Bar will be well represented on the Pro Bono Task Force by Mike Monahan, Teresa Roseborough and Frank Strickland, and all Americans will benefit from their service," said State Bar of Georgia President Kenneth L. Shigley. "I have known them all very well for many years. They are good friends and great people, and they each bring a stellar record of pro bono service and exceptional skills to the table. Their acceptance of this challenge is an inspiration to all Georgia lawyers as we seek to fulfill both our duty to help others and our high calling as stewards of the justice system. I congratulate the LSC Board on these outstanding appointments."

In announcing the task force's 51 members, LSC Chairman John G. Levi said, "This is a very distinguished group, drawn from the judiciary, corporations, private practice and the legal aid community, and I greatly appreciate each member's volunteer spirit and enthusiasm for expanding pro bono work with the legal aid community. "

The Task Force's work is of critical importance. Studies have found that only a small fraction of low-income Americans receive the help of a lawyer in addressing their civil legal problems, and increasingly individuals are having to handle their legal matters on their own. Although pro bono involvement has grown at LSC programs, we must do more to help ensure access to justice and the orderly functioning of the civil justice system.

"We are indeed fortunate to have these wonderfully accomplished individuals on this task force to identify new ways to marshal pro bono resources and strengthen civil legal assistance to low-income Americans."

Established in 1974, LSC, an independent 501{c)(3} nonprofit corporation, receives an annual appropriation from Congress to promote equal access to justice and to provide for the delivery of high-quality civil legal assistance to low-income individuals and families. Georgia Legal Services Program and Atlanta Legal Aid Society receive funds from the LSC to provide civil legal services to low-income Georgians.

The State Bar of Georgia, with offices in Atlanta, Savannah and Tifton, was established in 1964 by Georgia's Supreme Court as the successor to the voluntary Georgia Bar Association, founded in 1884. All lawyers licensed to practice in Georgia belong to the State Bar. Its more than 43,000 members work together to strengthen the constitutional promise of justice for all, promote principles of duty and public service among Georgia's lawyers, and administer a strict code of legal ethics.