The Atlanta Lawyer December 2017/January 2018 | Page 6
FROM THE FOUNDATION
Atlanta Bar Foundation Year In Review
Michael B. Terry
President, Atlanta Bar Foundation
[email protected]
The Atlanta Bar Foundation con-
cluded a historic year in 2017. One
year ago, I predicted in this space
that the Foundation “is poised for
a record-breaking year in 2017.”
This was, perhaps, an understate-
ment. Major events, achievements
and milestones were reached. But
it was a year punctuated by loss,
as well.
The Atlanta Bar Foundation is the
charitable arm of the Atlanta Bar
Association. The Foundation is
charged with fundraising, man-
agement of funds, and the expen-
diture of funds to further the char-
itable purposes of the Atlanta Bar
Association. Its focus is Atlanta Bar
affiliated and supported charitable
projects that promote equal access
to justice, assistance to youth and
public understanding of the law.
The Atlanta Bar Foundation also
maintains an annual grant pro-
gram to support Atlanta-area pro
bono legal service providers serv-
ing low-income citizens in Atlanta.
Here are some of the highlights
from 2017.
Grants in Excess of One
Million Dollars
Several years ago, the Atlanta Bar
Lawyer Referral and Information
Service (LRIS) and the Foundation
combined their resources to create
a joint grant program. The joint
grant program takes applications
and makes grants to programs that
advance the charitable purposes
of the Atlanta Bar Association. In
addition to the Summer Law In-
ternship Program (SLIP), Minority
and Diversity Clerkship Program
(MDCP), and Police Scholarship
Fund discussed above, recent
grant recipients have included
the Truancy Intervention Project,
Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers’ Foun-
“This year, the cumulative grants
program surpassed one million
dollars in giving since its
inception in 2009.”
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December 2017 / January 2018
dation, Atlanta Legal Aid Society,
Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta,
Fulton County, CASA, Georgia
Asylum & Immigration, Georgia
Innocence Project, Georgia Justice
Project, Georgia Law Center for
the Homeless, Georgia Appleseed
Center for Law and Justice, and
Gideon’s Promise among others.
This year, the cumulative grants
program surpassed one million
dollars in giving since its incep-
tion in 2009.
The Bard Show - Cathy
O’Neil Memorial Bard
Show Fund
The Foundation puts on three sig-
nature fundraising events. The
longest-running event is the Bard
Show, a musical theater comedy
extravaganza written, choreo-
graphed and performed by a cast
of up to 70 Atlanta lawyers and
judges. There are currently TWO
Bard Shows in pre-production.
Coming in the fall of 2018, we will
be producing and performing a
Bard Show Tribute Show which
will include some of the best
scenes from past shows, woven
together into a single narrative
by our expert scriptwriters. Then,
in the fall of 2019, we will be per-
forming “A Courthouse Line XIII:
A Nightmare on 14th Street.” We
are excited about these upcoming
shows and urge your sponsorship