In honor of the Foundation's 25th anniversary, on Thursday, May 12, 2005 the Coca Cola Company hosted a cocktail reception and dinner for 200 of the Foundation's strongest supporters and friends at the company's headquarters. The event featured guest speaker Mike Luckovich.
AVLF celebrated with memories of 25 years of volunteer legal service, including an acknowledgment of all who have won distinguished service awards, and with recognition of those who have served on the Foundation's Board of Directors and Advisory Board. Special note was made of AVLF’s Founders, Hon. Charles Carnes, John Chandler, Robbie Dokson and Jim Martin, as well as former Executive Directors Brian Stone and Debbie Segal.
The Atlanta legal community has been extremely supportive of the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation through AVLF’s history, and this gala celebration was no exception. As to the future, Foundation Executive Director Marty Ellin noted that evening:
We reach 25 optimistic about the level of support for pro bono legal services in the Atlanta legal community and yet very, very aware that most of the civil legal needs of the poor remain unmet.
We know that you and your partners and associates volunteer in numbers never seen before: yet we also know that even if 2,000 lawyers volunteer this year, it means that we have not reached the other 15,000 lawyers in the Atlanta metropolitan area with our pro bono message.
We therefore dedicate ourselves, in the next 25 years, to strengthen our relationships with our clients, and with every entity with which we partner, to advance the mission of our Foundation. We understand that we, and all lawyers, are responsible for the system of justice that we create, and that we must be fully engaged in our cause, which, simply put, is this:
To do everything that can be done to promote real and equal access to justice!
