HARRISBURG (May 31, 2006) � The Pennsylvania Bar Foundation (PBF), the charitable arm of the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA), will present a Louis J. Goffman Award to the Lancaster Bar Association Foundation for its �We Care about Families� campaign.

Goffman awards, named for a late PBA president, are presented annually to a group or organization and to an individual for outstanding pro bono work. Richard C. Low, chair, Lancaster Bar Association Foundation, will accept the award on Thursday, June 8, during the PBA Annual Meeting held in Hershey, Pa.

�Thanks to the fundraising efforts of the Lancaster Bar Association Foundation and the generous support of local attorneys and businesses, additional legal services for custody matters are available for low-income residents,� said Karen M. Balaban, PBF president. �The foundation saw a community need and stepped forward with a solution.�

Since 1982, the Volunteer Attorney Program of the Lancaster Bar Association has provided pro bono services to low-income clients. However, in recent years, demand for family law services increased nearly 50 percent, straining the availability of services.

In late 2004, the Lancaster Bar Association Foundation embarked on a campaign to raise $120,000 that would fund three years of employment for an entry-level, in-house custody attorney at the local offices of MidPenn Legal Services. MidPenn is a private, non-profit, public-interest law firm dedicated to providing equal access to justice and high quality legal services to low-income persons and survivors of domestic violence.

In nine months, the foundation met its fundraising goal, largely through contributions of Lancaster Bar Association members and a $20,000 contribution from Citizens Bank, and hired a custody attorney.

Based on the success in Lancaster County, neighboring bar associations are considering adopting the fund-an-attorney concept.