State bar in Nebraska selected for ABA-NLADA access to justice award

The Nebraska State Bar Association (NSBA) was honored with the 2022 Harrison Tweed Award last Friday for its work to boost legal services for underserved tenants affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The award, created in 1956, recognizes the extraordinary achievements of state and local bar associations that develop or enhance projects or programs to increase access to civil legal services to the needy or criminal defense services to indigents. The award is named for Harrison Tweed, a leader in the promotion of free legal services to the poor and presented annually by the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defense, known as SCLAID, and the National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA).

The NSBA was selected for its exemplary work in responding to that state’s tenants’ legal needs arising from the pandemic. The NSBA launched the Tenant Assistance Project (TAP), a homelessness prevention project, in April 2020 in response to the rising volume of eviction cases during the pandemic. The project mobilizes pro bono attorneys and law students to provide legal services to unrepresented low-income tenants who appear for eviction hearings.

TAP was created by the University of Nebraska College of Law Civil Clinic and is managed by the NSBA Volunteer Lawyers Project, which has ensured that all low-income tenants who have sought help from TAP receive it.

The award was presented at the annual joint luncheon of the National Conference of Bar Presidents, National Association of Bar Executives and the National Conference of Bar Foundations last Friday, at the 2022 ABA Annual Meeting, which runs from August 3-9 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.