Posner Foundation Recognizes Vanderbilt Alumnus and Student for Legal Aid Efforts - 10/18/1998

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A Vanderbilt University Law School alumnus and a third-year law student at Vanderbilt have been honored by the Gene and Ruth Posner Foundation for their significant contributions to legal aid.

George E. Barrett received the foundation's Alumni Pro Bono Award for his outstanding commitment to pro bono activities. Barrett's legal career spans more than 40 years. During this time he has taken a leadership role with several organizations that advocate on behalf of traditionally underrepresented populations in the legal system.

These include: the Tennessee Council on Human Relations; Tennessee Advisory Committee, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; and the Tennessee Governor's Commission on Human Relations. He also served as a member of the Civil Justice Reform Act Advisory Committee, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Tennessee; and is a past recipient of the Clarence Darrow Award by the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee.

Barrett formed the first racially integrated law firm in the South 33 years ago. He is a partner in the Nashville law firm of Barrett Johnston, LLC and serves on the Alumni Board of Vanderbilt University Law School.

Anu R. Menon, a third-year law student at Vanderbilt, is the recipient of the foundation's Student Pro Bono Award. Menon was the Legal Aid Society Stipend Fund director at Vanderbilt during the 1997-98 academic year. The campus organization works with traditionally underrepresented populations to improve their access to the legal system.

Menon is the recipient of the Junius L. Allison Legal Aid Award, which is presented to students adjudged to have made the most significant contribution to the Legal Aid Society. She earned her A.B. in international relations from Mount Holyoke College and is a candidate for the J.D. in May 1999.

The Gene and Ruth Posner Foundation was founded in 1963 by Gene Posner, an attorney in Milwaukee, Wis., to benefit mankind in science, art and literature, religion and education. One of the foundation's areas of interest is raising public awareness of the free legal services (pro bono) that lawyers provide those in need. The foundation also recognizes the need to educate other attorneys and law students of their duty to perform pro bono services.

"Our profession has been slow to respond to the need for pro bono attorneys," according to Jeffry Posner, vice president of the foundation. "Statistics reveal that only 20 percent of the legal needs of the poor are being met."

He said the foundation has made a commitment to promote pro bono activities through seminars and awards to lawyers and students at Vanderbilt and other law schools throughout the country.