Our Mission: Justice for All

America holds close the ideal of equal justice for all, but all too often, justice is out of reach for many of its most vulnerable citizens. Civil legal aid steps in to ensure that this promise is made a reality for the thousands of individuals and families who need representation in the justice system, but could not otherwise afford an attorney. By giving to the Justice for All Campaign, you can make justice a reality for individuals and families in northwest Ohio.
 

The Justice for All Campaign is a fundraising partnership among

• Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. (ABLE)
• Legal Aid of Western Ohio, Inc. (LAWO) and
• The Toledo Bar Association (TBA) Pro Bono Legal Services Program.

As the sole providers of free civil legal aid to low-income residents of northwest Ohio, the Justice for All Campaign unites our fundraising efforts to ensure that vulnerable and disenfranchised members of our community have equal access to the legal system.

Each year, thousands of people in our community request legal help from LAWO, TBA Pro Bono, and ABLE. Through gifts from our friends and supporters in the Toledo legal community, we are able to provide life-changing assistance to victims of elder abuse, veterans, survivors of domestic violence, and many families living, working, and raising their children in poverty who struggle to meet their day-to-day needs of housing, food, healthcare, or education for their children. But even though we served so many, there are still more who need our help, and we ask that you support us again this year.
 

Members of Our Community Need Your Help

Your investment in the Justice for All Campaign gives hope to our clients and creates stability in the community as their legal problems are resolved. Options for supporting the work of ABLE, the TBA Pro Bono Legal Services Program, and LAWO are as varied as the programs and services we offer. Whatever your interest—helping children, preventing homelessness, providing safety, rebuilding neighborhoods, protecting civil rights, providing for veterans—there is opportunity within this campaign.

DONATE

Thank You

Thank you to all who have given, every donation helps support our mission to provide Justice for All.

The following firms have reached 100% of giving:

• Brouse McDowell, LPA
• Collier Law Group, LLP
• Cubbon & Associates Co., LPA
• Maloney, McHugh & Kolodgy, Ltd.
• Reminger Co., LPA
• Zoll & Kranz, LLC 

The following firms have reached 75% or more of giving:

• Kitch Drutchas Wagner, Valitutti & Sherbrook

The following firms have reached 50% or more of giving:

• LaValley, LaValley, Todak & Schaefer Co., L.P.A.
• Lafferty, Gallagher & Scott, LLC
• Robison, Curphey & O'Connell, LLC
• Spengler Nathanson P.L.L.

The following firms have reached 25% or more of giving:

• Marshall & Melhorn, LLC
• Eastman & Smith Ltd.-Toledo
• Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP
• University of Toledo College of Law
• Widman & Franklin, LLC. 

Firms and individuals who have given: 

• Allotta & Farley Co., L.P.A.
• Bugbee & Conkle
• Mockenturm, Ltd.
• Groth & Associates
• Anspach Meeks Ellenberger LLP
• Goranson, Parker & Bella Co., L.P.A.

When you support the Justice for All Campaign, you contribute to equal justice under the law – something we all care about.

Board of Directors
Nominations for 2nd Vice President and Toledo Bar Association Board of Directors will be accepted through February 8, 2022. Nominations can be made via self-nomination or by a current TBA member. All nominees must be current TBA members.
  
TBA Awards
Nominations are being accepted for the Toledo Bar Association’s Trustees Award and Community Service Award, to be presented at the 2022 Annual Meeting in June. The deadline for nominations is March 22, 2022. 
  
The Trustees Award is given by the Board of Directors to a young member of the Association who exemplifies professionalism in the practice of law and who has demonstrated a commitment to improving the profession through active involvement in the TBA. For past recipients of the Trustees Award, click here. 
  
The Community Service Award is presented to a TBA member who demonstrates a commitment to service to community organizations or activities that are not law related. For past recipients of the Community Service Award, click here. 
  
Submit All Nominations To: 
TBA Nominations Committee
William G. Meyer, Chair
311 N. Superior St. 
Toledo, Ohio 43604
  
Fax: 419-242-3614
Email: blagusch@toledobar.org

The Toledo Bar Association (TBA) is pleased to announce Maggie M. Humphrey as its new Director of Pro Bono and Community Engagement. Ms. Humphrey has served in various roles with the Association since moving to Perrysburg in 2016, including Director of Lawyer Referral, Director of Community Engagement and Assistant Bar Counsel. She begins on November 1, 2021 and will bring the energy, organization and creativity needed to elevate the impact of the program and its volunteer attorneys on the local community.
 

Ms. Humphrey is a graduate of Ashland University and Capital University Law School. She began her legal career with the law firm of Bricker & Eckler in Columbus, Ohio, practicing with their Real Estate group for five years. She was drawn back to northwest Ohio to be closer to family, having grown up in Fremont and graduating as a Little Giant. She has made a home in Perrysburg, getting involved in local missions work and serving on the board of the Toledo Legal Aid Society.  
 

Reflecting on the move, Humphrey said, “I am thrilled to be stepping into this new role with the TBA. I have worked alongside the Pro Bono program for the past 5 years, developing community partnerships and engagements through the TBA Fellowship Collaborative and Nonprofit Connect. I have seen firsthand the dedication and breadth of experience our Pro Bono volunteers bring to the program and am very excited to work together with our volunteers to help meet the legal needs of Toledo. I truly believe we can serve more and do better through collaboration and strong community partnerships. I look forward to building on the past success of the Pro Bono program and continuing to expand our impact on the community.” 
 

The addition of Ms. Humphrey to the TBA will accelerate the TBA’s focus on ‘Connect to Community’ which is the theme of Hon. Myron C. Duhart’s presidency (2021-2022). Recently, Hon. Duhart addressed the membership with these remarks, “This year’s theme of ‘Connect to Community’ reinforces the TBA’s commitment to serve as the voice of the legal profession and as a legal resource to the greater community. We remain committed to supporting traditional and innovative means of access to the legal system. More than ever low-income households are desperate for answers as to how and when their legal issues will be resolved. Through the provision of pro bono services, the TBA will continue to work diligently to get people the legal help they need and to narrow the justice gap. The goal is to capture and refine services we already provide and to contemplate additional services to meet the current needs of the greater community.”
 

The TBA Pro Bono Advisory committee is working closely with Ms. Humphrey to bring this vision to life. The award-winning Pro Bono Legal Services Program, operated through the Toledo Bar Association and funded in-part-by the TBA Foundation, was formed in 1981 to connect volunteer attorneys with opportunities to assist low-income clients with certain legal issues. Forty years later, with the help of its volunteer members, the Pro Bono Program has assisted tens of thousands of Lucas County residents. 

About the Toledo Bar Association
The Toledo Bar Association is a voluntary professional association of lawyers in Lucas and surrounding counties. It was established in 1878 and has over 1,500 members. The mission of the TBA is to advance the professional and personal lives of its members through outstanding services, unmatched collaborative opportunities, and professional development.
 

The Toledo Bar Association has partnered with the Ohio Justice Bus, Toledo Lucas County (Main) Library, and the Lucas County Law Library to offer free legal advice to low-income residents. Come talk to an attorney privately about civil legal matters including but not limited to:

• debtor/creditor issues;
• foreclosures;
• bankruptcy;
• eviction;
• family law issues

Services are provided on a first-come first-serve basis. Please bring all required documentation. 

Friday, November 5, 2021
from 11 am - 2 pm

Toledo Lucas County Main Library
325 N. Michigan Street
Toledo, Ohio 43604

The Justice Bus will be parked in front on Main Library on N. Michigan Street.

Legal publishers Casemaker and Fastcase announced their merger and joint building out of legal research and analytics, news, data, and workflow solutions in January 2021. The two companies combined their teams and technologies to further innovate research, analytics, and workflow offerings that empower lawyers with powerful digital solutions for their clients.

Fastcase is a leading legal publisher that democratizes the law, making it more accessible to more people. Fastcase is a comprehensive research suite of primary law, treatises, legal blogs, analytics, workflow tools, and legal news. Its powerful sorting algorithms bring the best results to the top of the list every time--making research powerful, fast and easy. Find the cases you need, no matter what kind of research you're performing.  As an American company, based in Washington, D.C., Fastcase offers service to more than 900,000 subscribers from around the world.

Attorney members of the Toledo Bar Association have access to Fastcase for free -- at $995 value! If you're not a member of the TBA but would like to take advantage of unlimited search using Fastcase’s smarter legal research tools, unlimited printing, and unlimited reference support, we invite you to gain access by applying for a TBA membership here. 

Was Casemaker your tool of choice? The Casemaker team has made it easy to transition to Fastcase. Visit their resource library for access to free transition guides, training videos, webinars and FAQs. 

ACCESS FASTCASE

At their August meeting, the TBA Pro Bono Advisory Board voted to award the 2021 Susan L. Martin & Lavelle A. Willinger Pro Bono Award to the legal department at Owens Corning.  

In recognition of their work providing brief legal advice clinics at the Cherry Street Mission, TBA Executive Director, Brad Lagusch, presented the award to Omar Chaudhary, Kara Maruszak and Robin Perkins on behalf of the Owens Corning legal department on September 15, 2021.
 
Omar Chaudhary, Director of Security & Governance with Owens Corning, can’t wait to move forward with the clinics again, stating, “It’s a big mission of Owens Corning to give back to the community -- this was our law department’s way of contributing to that mission. The TBA made the clinics very easy to set up by providing training and facilitating the relationship. We hope to get back to that soon. The TBA has been great at reaching out to come up with virtual options during the pandemic.”

As a company, Owens Corning is committed to making a difference by empowering people and the communities in which they live and work. With the guidance of the TBA, the clinics were established in 2019 and geared towards participants of the Trade School, which bears the Owens Corning name.  At this school, participants are trained with job skills to gain sustainable employment and to get their life back on track. Often, when people are trying to do the right thing, they are faced with barriers. This could include a previous criminal record, child support issues, or homelessness. Any one of these issues could disrupt their enrollment at the Trade School and keep them off track further. These clinics were designed to help remove some of these barriers so they could stay enrolled in the trade school and ultimately find employment.  

The team at Owens Corning is a great example of how organizations can partner with the TBA and deliver much needed legal assistance. 

The Toledo Bar Association is now accepting applications for the Fellowship Collaborative Class of 2022 through October 14, 2021.

In collaboration with the Toledo Legal Aid Society and the University of Toledo College of Law, the TBA has created a twelve month fellowship program for recent law school graduates. The organizations involved identified a critical need to help mentor, guide, and train recently admitted attorneys so that they have the tools and resources to practice law here in the Toledo area. The goal of this fellowship is to provide new lawyers with support and guidance, while also helping to provide access to justice to those in need in Toledo. 

Program Details:

The fellowship is a full time commitment and will run January-December 2022. During this time, the fellows will open a private practice with the support of the Toledo Bar Association, and will have the opportunity to work part-time at the Toledo Legal Aid Society. All fellows are expected to commit at least 35 hours a week to the program (including both time spent employed at the Toledo Legal Aid Society and in private practice).

For their work through the Toledo Legal Aid Society, fellows receive $25,000 for their 16-20 hours/week (no health or other benefits) paid directly to the fellow. Each fellow is paired with an attorney from the felony division and the misdemeanor division. These pairings establish a mentoring relationship with two experienced attorneys and provide a strong foundation for a career in criminal defense. Fellows engage in client interviews; conduct arraignments and bond modification hearings; negotiate with prosecutors; research legal issues; participate in trials and suppression hearings; draft sentencing memoranda; and participate in sentencing hearings. Notably, fellows gain valuable experience in representing clients in both felony and misdemeanor courts. Upon completion of the fellowship program, fellows are eligible to apply for permanent positions with Toledo Legal Aid Society and, ideally, it is hoped that successful participants will continue their careers with the office.

To learn more about the program or to meet the fellow from the previous four years, click here. 
 

APPLY NOW

Access to Justice is back - live and in-person!

This year’s event – Justice Straight Up! – will be a bit different than the typical Access to Justice Awards Dinner. There will be no virtual event or formal dinner in a large, crowded banquet hall. Instead, Justice Straight Up! offers a welcome respite from COVID in an informal setting where you are invited to mingle and relax. 

Join us for a fun, casual gathering to support the Access to Justice initiatives of ABLE, LAWO and the TBA Pro Bono Program on Thursday, September 30, 2021 at The Toledo Spirits Company in downtown Toledo. 

$100 per ticket
Includes one entry to the best social event of the year, hors d’oeuvres and one signature cocktail designed exclusively for this event. 

>>> For tickets and sponsorship information, click here. 

Special Thanks to Our Sponsors in Supporting Access to Justice

Partner Sponsors:

• Brouse McDowell, LPA
• Buckeye Broadband
• Dana Incorporated
• Owens Corning
• Schaffer & Associates LPA
• Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP
• Spengler Nathanson P.L.L.

Associate Sponsors:

• Ability Center of Greater Toledo
• Area Office on Aging
• R. Jeffrey & Kathleen R. Bixler
• Tom & Judith Gagnet
• Malone, Ault & Farell
• RCO Law 
• Trust Company Family Offices
• Phillip Browarsky & Co., L.L.C

Contributor Sponsors:

• Hylant
• Medical Mutual of Ohio

Supporter Sponsors:

• American Interiors
• Esteban R. Callejas
• Cubbon & Associates Co., L.P.A.
• Mary Jane Flores
• Janet E. Hales
• John Hall
• KeyBank
• Mockensturm, Ltd.
• Kevin C. Mulder
• Ohio Access to Justice Foundation
• Pathway, Inc.
• Joseph R. Tafelski & Jennifer Teschner
• Rankin Law Office, LLC
• Toledo Lucas County Public Library
• University of Toledo College of Law
• Waterford Bank, N.A.

Join the Thurgood Marshall Law Association on Tuesday, October 19, 2021 for their annual luncheon where they provide scholarships to deserving students in honor of the life of Eddie M. Cole. 

This years guest speaker is Charles Jake. Mr. Jake was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He received his bachelor's degree in business management at Oakwood University. He received his Juris Doctor at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. He served as Assistant General Counsel at the University of Cincinnati from 2005 to 2014. He has also served as The University of Toledo's Associate General Counsel. Mr. Jake is currently the Vice President and General Counsel at The University of Toledo. 

Register for the luncheon here.

The Toledo Bar Association is a proud sponsor of the 2021 Eddie Cole Scholarship Luncheon. 

Advocating Opportunity is hosting a unique 10-part virtual and interactive training series takes an in-depth look at the origins of race in America, how the idea of race was constructed and refined in American society, the regulatory history of race and the modern impact of that history. This comprehensive overview of America’s racial trajectory provides participants with the tools necessary to have nuanced and productive discourse about race across racial lines. The training helps participants understand how that history has contributed to our present racial climate and what we can do as individuals and organizations to champion racial equity. The training concludes by equipping participants with strategies for mitigating racial harm through a proactive racially conscious lens. The training also invites participants to consider why this approach is more desirable than the colorblind orientation that is ordinarily embraced. This training is designed for participants of all knowledge levels who work in the legal system and desire to develop racial competence skills. The training space is intentionally crafted with grace, authenticity, and candor at its core as participants are encouraged to be vulnerable and honest as they cultivate understanding.

Beyond Colorblindness is principally focused on building competency and capacity in the area of racial equity for those involved in the legal system, and is not concerned with blame or culpability. The content is anchored by the events of history as a lens to understand our present.

The first session begins Friday, August 27, 2021 at noon. For more information and to register, click here. 

This program was financially assisted by the Ohio State Bar Foundation with support from the Toledo Bar Association Foundation. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of the Ohio State Bar Foundation or the Toledo Bar Association.