Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation
S. Phillip Heiner Award Recipient
James A. Gober
The Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers
Foundation (AVLF) is pleased to
announce that its S. Phillip Heiner
Award, named for the wonderful
lawyer and gentleman who in his
life was a champion of private
volunteer legal service to the poor,
is awarded this year to James A.
Gober, Arnall Golden Gregory’s
Real Estate Litigation Practice
Team leader.
AVLF pro bono award recipients
James A. Gober
generally have distinguished
Arnall Golden Gregory
themselves in connection with a
particular pro bono program. Jim
Gober, however, has offered support and service for nearly
every one of the Foundation’s programs, and he is honored
for extraordinary accomplishments on behalf of individual
clients as well as his creative and consistent support for the
breadth of AVLF’s effort.
Six years ago, AVLF’s One Child One Lawyer (OCOL)
Program began by securing volunteer lawyers to represent
abused and deprived children after the Department of Family
and Children Services removed the children from their home
and while DFACS and the Juvenile Court considered the
best interests of those children. Jim Gober took one of the
very first OCOL cases, representing two girls in the DeKalb
County Juvenile Court through more than two years of
wrangling over whether there was any hope that their mother
could care for them safely. When it was determined that she
could not, Jim represented the children in the Termination
of Parental Rights hearing, and stayed on as their counsel
through their eventual adoption, a total of four years of
volunteer service. In addition to his own labor, Jim recruited
several AGG attorneys over the years to volunteer for other
cases with AVLF’s OCOL program.
The AVLF Domestic Violence Project offers legal counsel to
victims of intimate partner violence. As a part of that effort,
volunteer attorneys are trained to represent victims who seek
a Twelve Month Protective Order. Over the life of the project,
no attorney has represented more victims and/or coordinated
the representation of victims by his colleagues than Jim
Gober. Jim’s sharp litigation skills and deep sensitivity have
won him praise from clients and the Domestic Violence Court
alike. Jim has directly represented 40 domestic violence
victims involving 230 volunteer hours and has coordinated
recovery of nearly $43,000 in medical bill reimbursements,
support payments and lost wages.
14
THE ATLANTA LAWYER
October 2011
In 2011, in an effort to support an over-burdened Fulton
County Court, AVLF sponsored a Pro Bono Magistrates
Program through which experienced, sophisticated litigators
agreed to serve as Magistrates in the Fulton County
Landlord-Tenant Court without seeking compensation for
their service. Jim Gober and four other candidates approved
by the Court went through Institute for Continuing Judicial
Education and related training. Since being sworn in late
last year, Jim and his colleagues have worn their robes with
pride and served with distinction.
About five years ago, AVLF became fortunate enough to have
Jim join the Board of Directors. After years of noteworthy
Board work, including chairing the Foundation’s Winetasting
Committee, Jim will become the President of the AVLF Board
of Directors in 2012.
Jim raises the effectiveness of the work of younger volunteers
by mentoring them in their pro bono work; he raises money for
AVLF’s pro bono programs; he raises consciousness about
the importance of working for equal access to justice; and
he raises hope in the ranks of those desperate for access
to a lawyer that our legal community will respond to those
in need. Jim is a deeply deserving recipient of the Atlanta
Volunteer Lawyers Foundation’s most prestigious award,
and we thank and congratulate Arnall Golden Gregory’s
Jim Gober. ■
David Rubenstein
s
The Official News Publication of the Atlanta Bar Association