Attorney Marla Butler Honored with One Child, One Lawyer Volunteer of the Year Award
May 24, 2007
Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. is pleased to announce that Marla Butler, a partner in the firm's Atlanta office, is the recipient of the annual "One Child, One Lawyer Volunteer of the Year" Award, which honors the attorney who has provided outstanding pro bono legal services and advocacy for abused and neglected children in foster care. Butler received the honor from the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation during the annual Atlanta Bar Association's Awards Luncheon meeting on May 22.
"We are so pleased that Marla is being honored as this year's recipient of this deserving award," says Lisa Heller, managing partner of the firm's Atlanta office. "Marla chairs our office's Pro Bono efforts, and she has done a great job getting everyone involved in this project. She has a strong and determined passion to help protect children's rights, particularly for adolescents. Our firm is the only one reaching out to teenagers, a greatly underrepresented group in the region, and this is due to Marla's advocacy. We are very proud of her."
Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. adopted the Youth Law Initiative in 2005 as a firm-wide pro bono project devoted to safeguarding the legal rights of children and teens. Each office has a YLI representative to coordinate these youth-oriented pro bono cases, tailored to meet the needs of the local community. Butler selected this program for the firm's YLI project in Atlanta as a way to help local teens in foster care, a group she identified as particularly needing legal representation. Directed by Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, the One Child, One Lawyer Program provides volunteer advocate attorneys for children who are victims of abuse or neglect and currently living in foster care.
Butler has facilitated the program in the Atlanta office since late 2005, working with the attorneys to get involved. As examples of the kind of work done on behalf of these adolescents, the Atlanta office has taken on cases involving teen mothers in the foster care system regarding their infants, and foster teens' rights regarding their education, foster home placements and other legal needs.
Butler focuses her practice on intellectual property. In addition to patent litigation experience, she has been the lead lawyer in matters that have been resolved by trial, mediation and arbitration. She is on the Board of Directors for Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation. She received her B.A. from Cleveland State University and her J.D., cum laude, from Florida State University College of Law.
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