How to Navigate Emeritus Pro Bono Practice Rules

Tali Albukerk is the national administrator of ABA Free Legal Answers for the ABA Center for Pro Bono. Tali previously held the position of staff attorney/pro bono projects manager for the ABA Standing Committee on Legal Assistance for Military Personnel.

During her career, Tali has worked for several Chicago law firms focusing on federal civil rights litigation, specifically addressing police misconduct claims. Tali is also board president of the Pro Bono Network, a Chicago area nonprofit that provides pro bono programs for attorneys with nontraditional work schedules.

Tali has a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law.

A former president of the Tennessee Bar Association and the recipient of numerous professional awards, Mr. Lewis is a litigator whose focus is solving complex business, personal injury, insurance coverage, Consumer Protection Act, health care and class action litigation problems for his clients. He is a Supreme Court Rule 31 listed General Civil Mediator. In 2013, the American Arbitration Association added Mr. Lewis to its panel of arbitrators.

Mr. Lewis' service to the legal profession is extensive. He has held numerous leadership positions in his profession and community. He served as president of the Tennessee Bar Association and president of the Tennessee Legal Community Foundation and was appointed by the Tennessee Supreme Court to chair the Tennessee Access to Justice Commission. He has also served as president of the Memphis Bar Foundation and as chair of the Mid-South Chapter of the American Red Cross. In 2006, the Tennessee Judicial Selection Commission recommended Mr. Lewis to the governor for appointment to the Tennessee Supreme Court.

In 1999, the Supreme Court appointed him to the Advisory Commission on Rules of Trial and Appellate Procedure. In August of 2009, he was appointed to the TBA Judicial Conduct Committee. In 2010, Mr. Lewis was named to the Honor Roll of the American Bar Association Torts and Insurance Practice Section. In 2014, ABA President William Hubbard appointed him to the American Bar Association Pro Bono and Public Service Committee. In 2016, ABA President Linda Klein appointed Mr. Lewis Chair of the Committee.

From 1980 to 1981, Mr. Lewis served as law clerk for the Honorable Frank Drowota, Tennessee Supreme Court. While in the joint J.D./M.B.A. program at the University of Tennessee, he served as the vice chair, and then chair, of the Moot Court Board. He was also a member of the Securities Law Moot Court Team and Labor Law Moot Court Team.

Crista Gantz is the Virginia State Bar (VSB) director of Access to Legal Services. In this role she develops, promotes, and coordinates the VSB’s pro bono and access to justice initiatives. She oversees the VSB Special Committee on Access to Legal Services, a statewide access to justice body which encourages participation in pro bono and addresses issues concerning legal representation of individuals who cannot afford counsel or are otherwise underserved. She is also the state administrator for Virginia Free Legal Answers.

Ms. Gantz previously served for three years as the Client Services Director with the Legal Information Network for Cancer (CancerLINC), which is a legal services non-profit organization providing free and low-cost legal services to cancer patients and their families in the Greater Richmond, Virginia area. Prior to joining CancerLINC she was an associate at LeClairRyan where she was involved in numerous volunteer and pro bono activities.

Ms. Gantz received her law degree from the University of Richmond and her undergraduate degree from The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

David M. Godfrey, J.D., is a senior attorney to the American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging in Washington DC. He is responsible for the ABA’s role in the Administration on Community Living funded National Center on Law and Elder Rights and for producing the ABA National Aging and Law Conference. David’s expertise includes supported decision making, advance care planning, health care decision making, legal service delivery, legal ethics, and LGBT aging. Prior to joining the Commission he was responsible for elder law programming at Access to Justice Foundation in Kentucky.

Mr. Godfrey earned his B.A. with honors at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and his J.D. cum laude from the University Of Louisville School Of Law in Kentucky.