The Atlanta Lawyer March 2016 | Page 22

LRIS TRUANCY INTERVENTION PROJECT IMPORTANT NOTICE Our LRIS program has merged to a new software, called "In Touch on Demand". To ensure delivery of e-mails and case status reports, it is imperative that you add [email protected] to your address book or spam filter. If you have not yet received your report, please contact Lucia Keller, [email protected]. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter as we move to serve you better. TRUANCY INTERVENTION PROJECT GEORGIA'S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR CELEBRATES 20 YEARS WITH TIP! By Terry Walsh Co-Founder and Board Chair Emeritus, TIP W Refer Calls to LRIS hen we violated the child labor laws by interviewing and hiring Jessica 20 years ago, we suspected that she would be good with people and pleasant to be around. Since we are small, getting along is essential, as is interacting successfully with our volunteers, funders, and the general public. She certainly seemed dedicated to at-risk children, personally and not in the abstract, and appeared to be a good communicator. Remember, if your firm receives those occasional calls regarding legal issues that you do not handle, please refer them to the Lawyer Referral and Information Service. On December 5, 2015, Jessica Pennington, TIP GA’s Executive Director, celebrated 20 years with the agency. The following is a tribute to her from Terry Walsh, Atlanta Bar Association Past President,TIP Co-Founder and Board Chair Emeritus. 22 March 2016 However, it is safe to say that we grossly underestimated the young woman that Karen Baynes Dunning referred to us late in 1995. That pleasant prospect Jessica had management instincts, strength of character, and people skills infinitely beyond our expectations and absolutely critical to where TIP is today. Jessica is a great sports fan, so I will use a sports analogy she will appreciate. She is TIP’s Christian McCaffrey, Stanford’s Heisman Trophy runner up and AP Player of the Year. volunteers, she fundraises, she serves on the Board, and—most importantly—she is the cheerful, warm, and winning face of our striving and successful agency. She does all these things while being a wonderful, well-loved friend to us all. We merely ask for 20 more! ■ Editor’s note: The author, Terry Walsh, and the subject of his piece, Jessica Pennington, have a long running, inside joke about her total lack of sports enthusiasm. The remainder of the article pertaining to her love of, and commitment to TIP, however, is true enough. Like McCaffrey, Jessica does everything superbly and is the epitome of versatility: she manages our small but splendid staff (she hired invaluable Caren Cloud and Tonya Malone, who have been with TIP for 17 and 16 years respectively), she recruits and trains The Official News Publication of the Atlanta Bar Association THE ATLANTA LAWYER 23