Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Inc.
Randall L. Hughes Lifetime Commitment to Legal Services Award Recipient
Robert N. Dokson
Submitted by Steve Gottlieb
Executive Director, Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Inc.
Robbie
Dokson
was
the
executive director of the Atlanta
Legal Aid Society from 1975
until 1980. While it is not on
his résumé , he likes to say
that he actually served in every
position at Legal Aid, except
as a receptionist. Although he
is not technically correct (he
never would have made it as
a secretary), Robbie did rise in
the ranks at Atlanta Legal Aid
from a staff attorney, just out of
Robert N. Dokson
the University of Chicago law
Ellis Funk, PC
school, to deputy director, and
then, after spending a year getting his Master of Law at
Harvard, to director.
Robbie deserves consideration for this award for just his
work as Legal Aid’s director. Robbie’s tenure is marked by
the development of Legal Aid as a high quality, aggressive
legal aid program, which has engaged in significant
litigation, including one case before the United States
Supreme Court. He also left two important legacies.
First, in 1977, Legal Aid bought its present building at
151 Spring Street, giving Legal Aid its first permanent
home and an institutional status. Purchasing a building
also saved Legal Aid hundreds of thousands of dollars of
rent. Second, the very next year, Robbie, with remarkable
foresight, made Atlanta Legal Aid the first program of its
kind in the country to offer loan repayment assistance
to its new lawyers. And, true to form, Robbie created a
deductible of $35 per month, the amount of his own student
loan payments, so that he would not profit from Legal Aid’s
new fringe benefit.
But this award is not to recognize Robbie’s work when he
was at Legal Aid. It is his work for Legal Aid since leaving
that should be recognized. Robbie has often said that being
director at Atlanta Legal Aid was the best job of his life,
and he has always remained loyal to the program. Robbie
always offered to help as I needed him. At the same time,
he was always careful, as the program’s previous director,
not to impose his help on us unless we asked for it.
We did ask for his help. He came back to Legal Aid as
a board member in 1989, became secretary/treasurer
in 2006, and then president in 2009. He is still on our
executive committee, a nd he serves with relish on any
The Official News Publication of the Atlanta Bar Association
other committee he is asked to join. As a board member,
he has been a fountain of creative ideas, in part because of
his past experience and in part just because of his nature.
As a board member and then president, Robbie has always
given me a thoughtful review of my ideas. Consistent with
his early concern about student loans, Robbie has always
felt most passionate about paying salaries which allowed
younger lawyers to make legal aid their career, and he has
been a leader on the board for higher salaries.
To pay for his push for staff benefits, Robbie has been
a long-time solicitor for our annual campaign and has
coordinated a team of solicitors as a vice chair since 1996.
He has been fearless in asking other lawyers to support
the program. Last year, he also solicited our alumni.
Finally, Robbie has also played a special role with the
program by being a mentor to younger lawyers. As part
of developing a relationship between our Board and staff,
I asked particular board members to mentor individual
staff attorneys. Robbie has personally taken three of our
younger attorneys under his wing, and all are delighted
with his interest in their work and the advice he has given
them.
It is with great pleasure that I offer my predecessor and long
time friend Robbie Dokson the second Randall L. Hughes
Lifetime Commitment to Legal Services Award. ■
Be sure to remember
to refer clients to the
Atlanta Bar Association
Lawyer Referral and
Information Service
404-521-0777
August/September 2011
THE ATLANTA LAWYER
11