SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Illinois State Bar Association, headquartered here, has received an award for Outstanding Achievement from the International Association for Continuing Legal Education for its Continuing Legal Education program, Divorce Basics for Pro Bono Attorneys, in the Public Interest category.

 

The Public Interest category is designed to recognize an organization’s outstanding commitment to provide programs, publications, scholarships, or other related activities that support the public interest and/or provision of legal services to the poor or underrepresented.

 

Divorce Basics for Pro Bono Attorneys, held in October 2008 and scheduled to be repeated in October 2009, helped fill a large, unmet need for pro bono divorce attorneys, and was offered as a free Continuing Legal Education program for all attorneys willing to undertake representation in at least one pro bono case. 

 

The Illinois State Bar Association, with offices in Springfield and Chicago, is a not-for-profit professional association with more than 35,000 lawyer members. Founded in 1877, it is the largest voluntary statewide organization of lawyers in Illinois.  The ISBA regularly conducts continuing legal education seminars throughout the year and publishes a wide variety of educational books and newsletters to assist lawyers in their practices. The association actively participates in legislative affairs, both in Springfield and in Washington D.C.