BAMSL Announces 2018 Hon. Richard B. Teitelman Memorial St. Louis Pro Bono Challenge Award Winners

St. Louis, MO – The Bar Association of St. Louis (BAMSL) announced the winners of its 2018 Hon. Richard B. Teitelman Memorial St. Louis Pro Bono Challenge Awards at a luncheon on Feb. 28 at the St. Louis Club.

BAMSL members provided more than 40,503 hours of pro bono service to the community during 2018. The 2018 award winners are:

• Individual Attorney: Ruth Schneider with RCJ Law, LLC, who reported providing 334.4 hours.
  
   
• Law Firm: Dowd Bennett LLP, which reported an average of 69 hours per attorney.
  

In 2017, BAMSL partnered with Legal Services of Eastern Missouri (LSEM) to implement this exciting program to encourage and support pro bono legal services, and to publicly recognize those lawyers and law firms who step up to the Challenge.

Thanks to the efforts of the 19 firms participating in the 2017 Challenge, 32,054 hours of pro bono legal work was provided to the St. Louis community in 2017. The Challenge was renewed for 2018, and again for 2019. Participating firms sign a ceremonial pledge that is on display at the BAMSL Bar Center. In two years, BAMSL members have provided more than 72,500 hours of pro bono legal work for people in need in our community.

Participating firms pledge to actively encourage pro bono and strive to perform a total of 10 hours of pro bono on average per year per attorney located in St. Louis. For example, a firm of 50 local attorneys would commit to an annual total of 500 hours.

The following firms participated in the 2018 Challenge:

• AEGIS LAW
• Brown & Crouppen, P.C.
• Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP
• Capes Sokol
• Dennis Buchheit, Attorney
• Dentons US LLP
• Dowd Bennett LLP
• Fox Galvin, LLC
• Gray, Ritter & Graham, P.C.
• Husch Blackwell LLP
• The Jacob Law Firm, LLC
• Lashly & Baer, P.C.
• Lathrop Gage LLP
• Littler Mendelson P.C.
• Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C.
• Paule, Camazine & Blumenthal, P.C.
• Polsinelli PC
• RCJ Law, LLC
• The Simon Law Firm, P.C.
• Stinson Leonard Street LLP
• Thompson Coburn LLP

For more information about the Hon. Richard B. Teitelman Memorial St. Louis Pro Bono Challenge, please visit www.bamsl.org/ProBono.

With more than 6,500 members in the St. Louis region, including attorneys, judges, paralegals and law firm administrators, The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (BAMSL) is the oldest and most respected voluntary bar association in the area. Please visit BAMSL's newly designed Web site at www.bamsl.org.

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TWO PHOTOGRAPHS FOR MEDIA USE:

The winning individual for the 2018 Hon. Richard B. Teitelman Memorial St. Louis Pro Bono Challenge was Ruth Schneider, with RCJ Law, LLC, who reported providing 334.4 hours.

The winning law firm 2018 Hon. Richard B. Teitelman Memorial St. Louis Pro Bono Challenge Awards was Dowd Bennett LLP, which reported an average of 69 hours per attorney.

FOR MEDIA USE ONLY:

For more information and interview opportunities, please contact Susan Sagarra, BAMSL Assistant Executive Director, Membership and Marketing, at ssagarra@bamsl.org or (314) 421-4134.