CHICAGO, Oct. 9, 2024 — The American Bar Association Standing Committee on Lawyer Referral and Information Service will honor Coco Su, director of the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s lawyer referral service, SmartLaw, with its 2024 Cindy A. Raisch award.
The award will be presented to Su on behalf of her organization at a luncheon on Friday, Oct. 25, as part of the 2024 ABA National Lawyer Referral Workshop in Rancho Mirage, California.
What:
“2024 ABA Forum On Building Access to Justice for All”
Sponsored by the ABA Standing Committee on Lawyer Referral and Information Service
When:
Wednesday-Friday, Oct. 23-25
Where:
The Westin Rancho Mirage Golf Resort & Spa
71333 Dinah Shore Drive
Rancho Mirage, California
The award, named after longtime advocate Cindy A. Raisch, recognizes public service-oriented lawyer referral and information programs that provide access to justice for moderate income consumers across the country. Raisch began serving as the directing attorney at the Los Angeles County Bar Association's Lawyer Referral Service in 1984. She quickly became a dynamic, inspirational leader in the LRS community and later chaired the ABA Standing Committee on Lawyer Referral Service. She died of cancer in 1994 at age 37.
SmartLaw champions access to justice for underserved communities and low-to-moderate income consumers, as demonstrated by multiple innovative programs. For example, its Limited Experience Program connects young lawyers with underserved communities for a reduced fee, providing clients with limited resources with the representation they need while allowing new attorneys to quickly gain hands-on experience. SmartLaw’s Dependency Court Program ensures Los Angeles County youths are provided competent, affordable representation for probate and tort claims. Moreover, Su has been praised for “herculean efforts to develop and push forward flat fees offerings in California” that have attracted attention nationwide.
The forum is the only program of its kind to provide educational training, unique networking opportunities, and support to the access to justice commissions, Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts programs, and lawyer referral programs that serve as gateways to the provision of access to justice. By bringing together three distinct yet interconnected conferences ─ the Lawyer Referral Workshops, the Joint IOLTA Conference, and the National Meeting of State Access to Justice Commission Chairs ─ the 2024 forum builds bridges among those striving to promote meaningful access to justice for all persons involved in the justice system.
The ABA also will issue Certificates of Meritorious Recognition to the following award nominees:
- Bianca A. Valencia Barraza, Lawyer Referral Service Program coordinator, San Mateo (California) County Bar Association. Despite operating with a small administrative and referral team of only six dedicated individuals, the program has achieved remarkable outcomes, referring approximately 2,000 clients and answering more than 9,000 calls in the past fiscal year.
- Michelle Chavez, director of Public Services, San Diego County Bar Association. During her 18-year tenure with this program, Chavez has developed it from a small referral organization to a large lawyer referral and information service serving multiple counties, involving hundreds of attorney members, and generating over $1 million in forwarding fees for multiple years.
- Nina Hudson, community outreach manager, San Antonio Bar Association. The program’s website, recently designed and launched, is a crucial public web resource for San Antonio residents seeking access to legal services. The website employs an innovative referral system to ensure users are ready to hire a lawyer for a true legal need and can be instantly matched with the right attorney.
The Lawyer Referral Workshop offers an array of panels, including those exploring referral services in the areas of ethics, marketing, and artificial intelligence. The agenda for the workshop is here.
The ABA is the largest voluntary association of lawyers in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law. View our privacy statement online. Follow the latest ABA news at www.americanbar.org/news and on X (formerly Twitter) @ABANews.