BALTIMORE, MD (12/1/04)—Venable LLP partner Geoff Garinther was recently honored with the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland’s pro bono award for his dedication and commitment to providing pro bono services. Presented annually, this was Venable’s first pro bono award from this court.
Mr. Garinther received the pro bono award for serving as the bar’s liaison to the court in implementing the Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system, and for his investigation of an attorney disciplinary matter for the court.
CM/ECF is an electronic filing system that enables attorneys to submit documents electronically to the U.S. District Court over the Internet. It also allows 24-hour access to file documents over the Internet, provides automatic email notice of case activity, affords the ability to download and print documents directly from the court, and allows concurrent users (multiple parties, judges and court employees) access to the case files.
A former federal prosecutor, Mr. Garinther is an active member of the federal court’s Criminal Justice Act panel and co-chairs the joint state and federal bar associations’ liaison committee with the court. Within Venable, Mr. Garinther co-chairs, along with Ben Civiletti, the firm’s Corporate Investigations Group and chairs its legal personnel committee.
“Mr. Garinther is a highly skilled, very dedicated attorney whose work of behalf of his clients is note-worthy and whose contributions to the community in which Venable serves are of the highest order,” said Gerald Treanor, the partner in charge of the Venable’s pro bono program.
As one of The American Lawyer's top 100 law firms, Venable LLP has been performing pro bono services in the community for more than a century. Those services include, but are not limited to, representing the disadvantaged in a wide range of poverty law issues, death penalty and civil rights cases.
Last year, Venable attorneys devoted more than 17,000 hours to pro bono services in the community, or the equivalent of $5.5 million including out-of-pocket fees for its pro bono clients.
One of the American Lawyer’s top 100 law firms, Venable LLP has attorneys practicing in all areas of corporate and business law, complex litigation, intellectual property and government affairs. Venable serves corporate, institutional, governmental, nonprofit and individual clients throughout the U.S. and around the world from its headquarters in Washington, D.C. and offices in California, Maryland, New York and Virginia.