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Merle Turchik
September 2007
The Outstanding Pro Bono
Attorney
of the Month for
September is Merle
Turchik. A member of
Southern Arizona
Legal Aid's (SALA)
Volunteer Lawyers
Program (VLP) for one
year, Merle assists
clients with employment
and labor issues.
In her short time with
the program Merle
has already made an
enormous impact,
accepting seven cases for
direct rep-
resentation. In addition
to her work with
clients, Merle has
assisted the program
by offering to train and
mentor staff.
Q & A with Merle
Turchik
Where are you
from?
I was born in
Chicago, IL and grew up in Des Plaines, IL, a suburb northwest of
Chicago until
moving to Tucson to attend the University of Arizona in 1978 where
I graduated with a
B.A. with distinction in Sociology in 1981 and a J.D. with
distinction in
1986.
What is the
history of your practice of law?
I became a lawyer
in 1986 and began my practice as a commercial litigation
associate in the
Tucson branch of Winston & Strawn, a Chicago-based law
firm. In 1988, the
Tucson branch joined Lewis and Roca where I continued as
an associate until
I decided to move back to Chicago in 1989 and accepted a
judicial clerkship
for the Hon. Joan B. Gotschall. I became licensed in Illinois
in 1990. Unable to
re-acclimate to the cold weather, I returned to Tucson in
1990 to work as an
employment lawyer in the Civil Division of the City of
Tucson Attorney’s
Office. After 14 years of public practice, I left to form
Ryan Turchik,
P.C., with my law partner, Mary Judge Ryan, hence the
name “Ryan
Turchik.”
What are your
current practice areas?
Ryan Turchik, P.C.
is a two-attorney law firm focusing in the areas of
Employment Law,
Civil Rights Law and Governmental and Administrative
Law. A lthough
Ryan Turchik, P.C. represents some employers, our primary
focus is on
protecting employee rights. We have dedicated our practice
to improving the
workplace and educating workers about their rights (yes,
even in the
at-will state of Arizona employees have some rights). Eventually
we hope to endow
an employment law clinic at the James E. Rogers College
of Law.
What drives you to
volunteer with VLP?
My strong belief
that legal services should be available to everyone in our
society, not just
the wealthy.
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Past Pima
County Monthly Award Winners
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