It began with a $400,000 windfall in 2006 from a client referral service fee to the Fayette County Bar Association, along with the desire on the part of a group of Lexington attorneys to use that money to make a lasting difference in the community.
Since then, the Fayette County Bar Foundation has grown into a self-sustaining philanthropic enterprise, with total grant awards to the community expected to exceed $200,000 by the end of this year. That money has been used to boost both new and established local initiatives that improve access to the justice system for low-income individuals, provide public education on vital legal issues, and support the community outreach efforts of local legal professionals.
In 2006, a complex legal case related to a tragic bus accident resulted in a substantial settlement for the victims’ families and a payment of $400,000 to the FCBA’s referral service for legal counsel. The FCBA polled its membership and decided to create a lasting legacy with its share of the proceeds, and the Fayette County Bar Foundation was born.
Spearheaded by local attorney Steve Ruschell with the help of former FCBA president Elizabeth Hughes and original formation committee member and foundation treasurer Jack Cunningham, the establishment of the foundation was contingent on the procurement of matching funds from Lexington’s legal community. The FCBA’s initial $400,000 investment was buoyed by five-year contributions totaling $270,000 from local law firms, creating an endowment to fund a variety of law-related philanthropic efforts in Fayette County.
“There’s a Kentucky Bar Foundation that serves the state, but we felt that since it was covering the whole state, it could not adequately fill the gap here,” said Timothy Wills, president and chair of the Fayette County Bar Foundation and a partner at Bowles Rice. “We’ve also run into a situation, particularly in the past several years, where the Fayette County pro bono program has been underfunded by the state and has needed additional funds, and the foundation has assisted in filling that gap.”
Today, the foundation is supported by more than 500 Fayette County attorneys, both individually and through participating local law firms, and more than 200 local attorneys have signed on as fellows to support the foundation, pledging a minimum gift of $1,000 each over four years to the organization’s endowment.
“We were able to make our first grants in 2007, barely after a year of existence,” said Ruschell, chairman emeritus of the foundation and a member of Stites and Harbison.
The projects funded by the foundation range from assistance with legal applications for the city’s immigrant population to local attorneys volunteering to read to children in downtown elementary schools. In June, for example, 17 rising high-school juniors and seniors attended Fayette County’s first Summer Law Institute, a one-week residential camp held on the University of Kentucky campus and organized by the FCBA and the UK College of Law. The event, nicknamed “Law Camp,” gave students the opportunity to attend classes at the UK College of Law, prepare arguments, tour the Circuit Courthouse and shadow local attorneys. Roughly 90 percent of the funding for the camp, which is based on a similar program in Louisville, came from a Fayette County Bar Foundation grant, according to retired Judge Sheila Isaac, executive director of the FCBA and an organizer for the Summer Law Institute.
“This project directly educates young people on the fundamentals of the law and trial, broadens their understanding and awareness of the bar, and promotes a positive image of our profession,” said Isaac, who applied for the foundation grant after learning about the Louisville program. Isaac said the foundation’s support was key to getting the project off the ground. “It will help [the students] become better writers and speakers and better citizens. We hope this will spur some of them to consider a legal education and career,” she said.
In addition to Summer Law Institute, recipients of Fayette County Bar Foundation grants for this year included Legal Aid of the Bluegrass, Maxwell Street Legal Clinic, the Grandparents as Parents Conference, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Lexington, the Access to Justice Foundation and the Lawyers Reading to Kids (LARK) project through the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.
While many attorneys donate their time to help people in underserved populations through pro-bono work, the foundation can fund community initiatives with a broader purpose that can reach out to a wider audience, he said.
“Instead of just giving our time, we are also giving our treasure,” Ruschell said.
“It’s funding projects that couldn’t otherwise be done,” said Hughes, an attorney with Green Chesnut & Hughes and former foundation board member. Hughes said she takes a great deal of pride in seeing the growing list of funded initiatives every year, but she was also impressed by the strong initial buy-in for the foundation by FCBA members, and especially by the enthusiasm and collegiality of the many attorneys who have served on the board and worked to build the foundation.
“This group of lawyers just really came together. It was a huge commitment of time to create the foundation and to sell it to the [FCBA] board members and the membership, and there was such fabulous support by lawyers and the law firms,” Hughes said. “It’s a real reflection on the good works that the lawyers in this community do.”
Wills said the foundation has brought the FCBA closer and strengthened the organization’s sense of community pride. It is still reaching out to get more attorneys involved, he added, and looking at ways to make it even more affordable for young lawyers who want to contribute. Ruschell said he also sees plenty of opportunity for expanding the endowment and bringing more law professionals on board.
“There are many attorneys who are not even aware that we exist,” Ruschell said.
The foundation is a 501(c)3 organization, separate from the FCBA, although the bar association provides administrative support. The foundation aims to operate with no overhead costs, and expenses incurred by their fundraising efforts have been underwritten by local law firms, Wills said.
Grants are awarded annually by the foundation’s board, based on recommendations from the organization’s Grants Committee. Grant applications for 2014-’15 are due by Sept. 15, with grant awards to be announced on December 15. For more information on the foundation and the grant application process, see the foundation’s website, www.fcbf.net.