Ohio Volunteer Lawyer Receives National Public Service Award from ABA Business Law Section

CHICAGO, March 29, 2010 – The American Bar Association Business Law Section will present its 2010 National Public Service Award for an individual to Douglas L. Rogers, volunteer lawyer with the Ohio State Legal Services Association, on Friday, April 23, during the section’s Spring Meeting in Denver.

Through the award, the ABA Section of Business Law annually recognizes the work of an individual lawyer who has demonstrated a commitment to delivering pro bono legal services in a business context.

Rogers received his nomination for his contributions to the Ohio Poverty Law Center and Southeastern Ohio Legal Services as well as to OSLSA.  As a full-time volunteer since 2008, Rogers has worked with distressed Ohio homeowners, particularly the elderly and disabled, in need of foreclosure defense assistance. He also assists low-income clients with consumer matters.

His understanding of complex business transactions such as securitizations has proved invaluable as he provides foreclosure defense assistance to clients not able to represent themselves adequately.  He has also helped prepare other SEOLS lawyers for foreclosure defense work.

Prior to his volunteer work, Rogers had a lengthy career with Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP as an intellectual property lawyer and litigator.  He is a graduate of Cornell University and Yale Law School.

With just under 60,000 members, the ABA Section of Business Law is one of the association’s largest sections.  It provides business lawyers with education and analysis that furthers the development and improvement of business law, and it helps its members serve their clients competently, efficiently and professionally.

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization 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.

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Editor’s Note: Accredited reporters are welcome to attend this or any other session at the 2010 Spring Meeting for free.  To obtain ABA press credentials, please contact Barbara Power at 312/988-6147 or at powerb@staff.abanet.org.