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The Arizona
Foundation for Legal Services and Education is proud to honor
the state’s Top 50
Pro Bono Attorneys for 2006. Through their hard work,
dedication,
courage, and unselfish gifts of time and talent, these attorneys
have made real the
ideals of justice for citizens of Arizon a
who, otherwise,
may have found them
beyond
their grasp.
Building upon the
proud work of
the past Top 50 Pro
Bono
Attorneys, first
named in
2001, the 2006
honorees
have been chosen
for giving
tirelessly to
provide legal
services to
low-income clients.
Their selection has
been based
on such factors as
the number of
pro bono cases
accepted and hours donated,
indicators of
overall commitment to pro bono work.
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 Peter
Akmajian
Chandler &
Udall, LLP | Pima County
Peter has
been providing pro bono assistance to VLP clients for
seventeen years in
Pima County. Peter accepts tort cases for
direct
representation, and has never declined to accept a case
when called upon by
the VLP staff. Not only does
Peter assist
VLP clients, but he
also serves on the Board of Directors
of Southern Arizona Legal
Aid. He is generous
with his time and his expertise, and is a champion for legal
services in the
community.
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Elizabeth Berenguer
United States
Attorney | Pima County
Elizabeth
Berenguer, a volunteer with the VLP for just a year,
has already made
an enormous impact on the program and its
clients. Elizabeth
volunteers in the VLP’s guardianship of a
minor clinic,
assisting potential guardians as they seek to
provide access to
shelter, education and medical care for at-risk children whose
parents are unwilling or
unable to care for them. In addition to her work with the
clinic, Elizabeth
volunteers to provide training for law students, recruits new
volunteers, and assists
the VLP with CLE training. Her enthusiasm and dedication
to the program is
contagious. Staff and clients alike are better for knowing
Elizabeth.
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 Lindsay
Brew
Haralson Miller Pitt
Feldman & McAnally, PLC | Pima County
Lindsay Brew, a VLP
volunteer in Pima County for eighteen
years, provides
pro bono legal services to clients in need of
help with debt
collection, contract, and real property matters.
Mr. Brew’s
commitment to helping pro bono clients has never
wavered. He consistently
accepts cases from the program. Mr. Brew is kind and
compassionate toward
clients, and is always willing to help and support the VLP.
The staff of the VLP is
thankful to the Foundation for recognizing Mr. Brew as one
of Arizona’s Top 50 Pro
Bono Attorneys.
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Benjamin Burnside
Bogutz & Gordon,
PC | Pima County
Ben Burnside, a member of
the Tucson law firm, Bogutz &
Gordon, has been
donating his time and expertise to assist
VLP clients for
six years. In that time, Ben has provided
countless hours of
pro bono assistance to clients in need of
help preparing their
wills. In addition to the individual assistance Ben has
provided to VLP clients,
he has also been a frequent participant in the VLP’s
Minor Guardianship
Project. The VLP is grateful to Ben for his continued
participation in the VLP
and for his ongoing support of the program.
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Stacy Rupprecht
Butler
United States District
Court of Arizona | Pima County
Although Stacy was
admitted to the practice of law just a few
short years ago,
in 2002, her impact on the VLP has been
tremendous. In
fact, she began her involvement with the
program during the
summer of 1998, before her senior year
of college. Her work with
the program continued throughout her law school
career. As a result of
Stacy’s student efforts, the VLP and the University of
Arizona College of Law
formed a partnership, VLP Advocates, to help involve
students in the provision
of legal services. To date, more than 400 law students
have volunteered through
this program. As an attorney, Stacy’s involvement in
the VLP has included
direct representation of clients in domestic relations cases
and participation in law
student training. In addition, Stacy has continued to
utilize her exceptional
communication skills to author articles and press
releases about the VLP.
In 2006, the VLP was extremely fortunate to have
Stacy join the VLP
Advisory Board.
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 Emily
Dillof
Centouri &
Associates | Pima County
Emily Dillof has
been volunteering with the VLP in Tucson since
January of 2005.
In that short time, Emily has made a
significant impact
on the VLP and its clients. She participates
in the VLP
Domestic Relations Clinics and also provides direct
representation to clients
in domestic relations cases. The majority of Emily's clients
are also victims of
domestic violence. Emily not only assists VLP clients when called
upon by staff, but
frequently calls the program and requests that the staff send her
cases.
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Karl Elledge
Sole Practitioner |
Cochise County
Since joining the
Volunteer Lawyers Program in August of 2001, Karl Elledge has
donated more than 30
hours to VLP clients in the areas of divorce, support,
custody and estate
planning. Despite his busy private practice in Sierra Vista,
Mr. Elledge has never
refused to assist a VLP client. Please join the VLP and
the Foundation in
thanking Mr. Elledge for his continued support of the VLP
and his commitment to its
clients.
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Shannon Giles
Quarles & Brady
Streich Lang, LLP | Pima County
Shannon Giles, a
VLP volunteer in Pima County since 2003,
accepts cases for
direct representation in the areas of contract
and real property.
She recently completed a real property case
that she worked on
for a little more than two years. Shannon
dedicated 208 hours to
the case and achieved a great result for the family. "Whenever
I volunteer for VLP, I am
struck by how overwhelming, and potentially devastating, our
legal process can be for
the average individual," Shannon recently commented. "This
is especially true for
individuals without the resources to hire an attorney. This reality
drives me to volunteer
with VLP."
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Kristen Green
Gibson Nakamura &
Green, PLLC | Pima County
Kristen Green
assists clients through the VLP by providing
advice, brief
service and direct representation to clients in need
of help with
bankruptcy issues. Kristen has been a consistent
participant in the
program and is always willing to take on a new
case and a new challenge.
In addition, Kristen has recently agreed to begin assisting
the VLP with its
Bankruptcy Reaffirmation Clinic. Kristen’s sincere desire to help
the
members of the community
most in need is evident to everyone. The staff of the VLP
is pleased that the
Foundation has chosen to recognize Kristen for her outstanding
pro bono work.
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Patricia Green
Waterfall
Economidis Caldwell Hanshaw & Villamana, PC
Pima County
Pat Green has been
a member of the VLP since 2002. During
that time, she has
helped clients with domestic relations
matters that
include complex divorce, custody and paternity
matters. Pat is always
willing to accept cases that involve issues of domestic
violence, and she has
never declined to accept a pro bono case when called upon
by the VLP staff. The VLP
is grateful to the staff of the Foundation for recognizing
Pat’s efforts this year
as one of the Top 50 Pro Bono Attorneys in Arizona. She is
certainly deserving of
this award and the thanks of the VLP and its clients.
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Todd Jackson
McNamara Goldsmith
Jackson & MacDonald, PC
Pima County
Todd Jackson, a
shareholder in the law firm of McNamara,
Goldsmith, Jackson
& Macdonald, P.C., has been an active
volunteer with the
VLP since 1997. In that time, Todd has
assisted many clients
with debt collection and contract matters. In addition to his pro
bono work with individual
clients, Todd exhibited enormous leadership coordinating
efforts to assist the
victims of Hurricane Katrina with their legal needs. In 2006, the
VLP was fortunate to have
Todd join the VLP Advisory Board. Todd has consistently
demonstrated a desire to
help those most in need in our community. His generous
spirit and thoughtful
leadership make him an invaluable asset to the program and the
community. The VLP joins
the Foundation in honoring Todd for his pro bono work.
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Lowell Jensen
Lowell A. Jensen,
PLC | Graham County
Lowell Jensen
joined the VLP in May of 2002 to help VLP
clients in Graham
County. Primarily, Mr. Jensen has provided
representation to
victims of domestic violence in their divorces.
However, most
recently, Mr. Jensen provided representation for
a client in a child
support matter involving groundless collection efforts. The VLP is
grateful to Mr. Jensen
for making access to justice a reality for VLP clients in
Graham County.
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Peter A. Kelly
Sole Practitioner
| Cochise County
Peter Kelly is a
sole practitioner in Palominas, Arizona, which
is located in the
southwest corner of Cochise County. Since
Mr. Kelly joined
the VLP in September of 2003, he has donated
over 60 hours to
VLP clients on issues ranging from contracts
and real property to
immigration and probate. The VLP is thankful to the Foundation
for recognizing Mr. Kelly
as one of Arizona’s Top 50 Pro Bono Attorneys.
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Cindy Kuhn
Rusing & Lopez,
PLLC | Pima County
Cindy Kuhn, a
member of Rusing & Lopez in Tucson, has
been a VLP
volunteer since 1987. In that time, Cindy has
assisted countless
pro bono clients with debt collection,
contract and tort
matters. Cindy has been incredibly generous
with her time and
expertise. The VLP is honored to have her as a member of the
program and thrilled
that the Foundation has recognized her as one of the Top 50
Pro Bono Attorneys in
Arizona. It is because of attorneys like Cindy that justice is
a reality for so many
Arizona residents.
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Ryan Moore
Pima County Public
Defender | Pima County
Over the course of
one year, Ryan assisted Florence Project
staff in
researching and creating a chart of the immigration
consequences for
each Arizona criminal statute. This chart will
be a valuable
resource for defense attorneys in Arizona in
advising immigrant
clients before taking guilty pleas. The chart will also be
distributed
to jails throughout the
state so indigent immigrants in criminal proceedings have
access to accurate legal
information.
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 Carl
Piccarreta
Piccarreta &
Davis, PC | Pima County
Carl Piccarreta
was selected to receive this award for his
consistent
participation in the VLP’s Domestic Violence Law
Clinic in Tucson
and for his willingness to cover the clinic in
emergency
situations. Carl is compassionate with clients and
serves as a wonderful
mentor to the law students involved in the project.
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 Anita
Wightman Pitroff
John F. Kelliher,
Jr., PC | Cochise County
Anita Wightman
Pitroff joined the VLP in August 2005. However,
since that time
she has taken three of the most difficult cases
for direct
representation. In addition, Ms. Pitroff has participated
in the Advice Only Clinic in Sierra Vista and she regularly links
low-income persons with
the VLP so they can receive free legal services. The VLP is
truly indebted to Ms.
Pitroff for her selfless commitment to the clients of the VLP.
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 Dan
Rylander
Robinson &
Rylander, PC | Pima County
Dan Rylander has
been a member of the VLP in Pima County
for five years. He
accepts Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy
cases for direct
representation. In addition, he has become a
frequent
participant in the VLP's Bankruptcy Reaffirmation
Clinic, where he
supervises law students as they meet with unrepresented clients in
United States Bankruptcy
Court. When asked about his participation in the VLP,
Dan states that "helping
others without expecting anything in return is part of the
essence of being a human
being; I am just using the skill sets that I have to do that."
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Larry Scheafer
Sole Practitioner |
Cochise County
Since joining the VLP in
August of 2001, Larry Scheafer has donated more than 50
hours to clients in
Cochise County who needed to file for Chapter 7 or 13 bankruptcy.
Mr. Scheafer was
especially helpful in assisting clients file before the new
bankruptcy
laws went into effect in
October of 2005. Mr. Scheafer’s dedication to the provision of
legal services to the
low-income residents of Cochise County makes him an obvious
choice as one of the Top
50 Pro Bono Attorneys in Arizona.
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 Tim
Struse
Bogutz & Gordon,
PC | Pima County
Tim Struse
supervises law students at the VLP’s Minor
Guardianship
Project in Pima County Superior Court. Tim is
an exceptional
mentor for law students and through his pro
bono efforts, he
consistently demonstrates the generosity of
the legal profession and
enhances the image of the profession throughout the entire
community. In addition to
his work with students, Tim has volunteered to assist
clients directly. He has
also taken time to share his expertise with staff and other
volunteer lawyers by
providing free CLE training. The VLP is fortunate to count
Tim among the program's
volunteers.
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Gary Urman
DeConcini McDonald
Yetwin & Lacy, PC | Pima County
Gary Urman has
been a VLP volunteer in Pima County since
1988. Over the
last eighteen years, Gary has provided
countless hours of
pro bono assistance to clients in need
of help with
contract, employment and debt collection matters.
The VLP is grateful to
Gary for his willingness to assist VLP clients and for his
continuous support of the
program. The VLP joins the Foundation in this recognition
of Gary for his
dedication to pro bono clients.
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