With free legal services increasingly in demand as the economy stagnates, the Lancaster Bar Association Foundation has created an endowment to fund more programs addressing this need.

Within that endowment, the Matt Creme Access to Justice Fund recognizes a longtime local attorney who is the new president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

"It's a terrific honor to have my name attached to it," said Creme, a partner with Nikolaus & Hohenadel LLP. Creme is active with the bar association foundation and has been involved in fundraising for MidPenn Legal Services.

At a reception introducing the fund Thursday at bar association headquarters downtown, Sue Danforth, former pro bono coordinator for MidPenn Legal Services, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pennsylvania Bar Association.

Al Azen, executive director of the Pennsylvania Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts Board, was given the state bar association's Pro Bono Partner Award.

Need is acute
Forming an endowment was a logical step because it will provide "a dependable source of steady income," allowing the foundation to make longer-term commitments, said Jean Bednarski, of the local bar association.

Having an endowment also will attract larger donations, she said.

The foundation currently pays for a support-custody attorney at MidPenn Legal Services, Bednarski said. It also issues small community grants to agencies like CASA of Lancaster County, which trains volunteer court-appointed advocates for children who have been abused and/or neglected.

Legal Services Corp. estimates that at least 80 percent of the legal needs of low-income families go unmet because of lack of resources, according to Katie Schultz, managing attorney at MidPenn Legal Services.

"That number is based on studies conducted prior to the 2008 recession, so one can only speculate (and I can confirm anecdotally) that the need has only increased since then," she wrote in an email.

Landlord-tenant problems and custody cases are two major areas in which people require help, said Elaine Ugolnik, chairwoman of the bar association's public service committee, which promotes pro bono programs.

In the 2010-11 fiscal year, MidPenn Legal Services handled 2,456 cases in Lancaster County, with advocates devoting more than 11,268 hours of service.

Schultz said there's been a huge jump recently in income-maintenance cases, including unemployment compensation.

Getting started
The endowment was established at the Lancaster County Community Foundation and received a $10,000 matching grant from that organization. The LBA Foundation then needed to come up with at least an equal amount, which its board members and others within the bar association are contributing toward.

More than $158,300 — from the final distribution of funds from a case relating to orthopedic products — also went into the endowment's account. Judge Ronald Buckwalter, of U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, directed that the money be transferred to the LBA Foundation.

At a retreat in May, the foundation adopted a new mission statement: "to improve the lives of Lancaster County residents by promoting access to justice through philanthropy, education and service."

The organization's new vision includes five goals. Among them are building the endowment; increasing the visibility of the foundation in the legal community and the public; and giving grants that "provide greater access for justice for people with unmet legal needs."

Creme said two of his colleagues, Bernadette Hohenadel and Jeff Mills, approached him about attaching his name to an Access to Justice Fund within the endowment.

They saw his public profile as president of the state bar association as a way to highlight the fund, he said.

"Matt has been wonderful to let us use his name," Ugolnik said.

Up until now, the foundation would spend what it raised every year, she said. "You can't really plan for the future."

Having an endowment, Ugolnik said, will allow for that.

Contact Sunday News staff writer Paula Wolf at pwolf@lnpnews.com.