DAYTON, OHIO – Laurie J. Pangle, partner in the Toledo law firm of Spengler, Nathanson P.L.L., is today’s recipient of the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation’s 2010 Presidential Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Delivery of Pro Bono Legal Service. The award is being presented to Attorney Pangle during the Council of Delegates and General Assembly Meeting of the Ohio State Bar Association’s 2010 Annual Convention, held this year in Dayton, Ohio.
Attorney Pangle is being recognized for her pro bono work helping legal aid societies in northwest Ohio to consolidate, creating Advocates for Basic Legal Equality and Legal Aid of Western Ohio, which now serve 32 counties and all migrant farm workers statewide. She later became president of the boards of those organizations, and as president led the campaign in Toledo to raise funds, purchase and renovate a building to house them. The Center for Equal Justice was dedicated in October of 2009, after a community wide fundraising campaign, in which Attorney Pangle was a key player, raised $6.8 Million Dollars. It is the third LEED Gold certified building in Northwest Ohio and one of only 25 in Ohio.
“This year’s Presidential Award winner is a person who believes passionately in the mission of legal aid, and has turned that passion into action,” said Julie A. Davis, executive vice president and general counsel to Retail Ventures, Inc. in Columbus, and the Foundation’s board president. The award is presented annually to individuals, law firms or organizations that have made outstanding contributions to improving access to legal representation through pro bono or volunteer service to low-income Ohioans.
In accepting the award, Attorney Pangle will encourage attorneys to continue to accept pro bono foreclosure cases. “Each of you has been given an incredible talent, a purpose in this time of need. Our profession must step up because despite our personal situations right now in this economic situation, we have the capacity to represent these families.”
Attorney Pangle is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Valpariso University School of Law. Prior to joining Spengler, Nathanson she was Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary for Fifth Third Bank (Northwestern Ohio). She concentrates her practice in banking, commercial law and litigation.
Created by the Ohio Legislature in 1994, the Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation, in partnership with state and local bar associations, elected officials, and local legal aid providers, works to assure that services, programs and resources exist to serve the unmet civil legal needs of Ohio’s poor.