Bricker & Eckler LLP Honored with
2002 Benefactor of the Year Award

Bricker & Eckler LLP received the Benefactor of the Year Award at the 2002 Corporate Caring Awards program presented by Business First on April 3, 2002. Designed to spotlight the many corporate giving and volunteer programs that exist in our community, the Corporate Caring Awards program recognizes corporate participation in the arts and humanities, education, health and human services, and environmental and civic endeavors. As Benefactor of the Year, Bricker & Eckler LLP was the overall winner in all four categories.

"We are honored to receive this year's award for our collective contributions to the Columbus community," said managing partner Richard C. Simpson. "Dedicated to caring for the well-being of our community, many Bricker & Eckler attorneys and staff actively support charitable organizations by donating their time, energy and resources."

In addition to undertaking an annual United Way campaign, the 285 employees of Bricker & Eckler contribute monthly to a charity of choice through "Dress Down for Charity" casual Fridays. Organizations that have received these contributions include the Columbus Landmarks Foundation, MADD, the American Red Cross, the Open Shelter, the Arthritis Foundation, and Action for Children.

Firm employees also participate in clothing drives and Adopt-A-Family projects during the holidays, blood donations for the American Red Cross, and projects for the Mid-Ohio Food Bank. Additionally, both attorneys and staff serve on the board of trustees and various committees of Columbus Christmas in April. Since partner James Flynn and a former associate founded this organization in 1989, a team of at least 25 firm staff members participate in this project annually. In recent years, Bricker & Eckler has celebrated the anniversary of its founding by bestowing a single generous gift to certain civic and charitable organizations. Recipients include COSI, Capital University Law School, the Columbus Cancer Clinic, the Legal Aid Society of Columbus, and the Columbus Symphony Orchestra.

Through the firm's gifts to the Ohio State Bar Foundation, grants have been awarded to programs that promote public understanding of the law and improvements in the justice system throughout Ohio. Some programs supported by these grants include the Ohio Center for Law-Related Education Mock Trial Program, which reaches over 6,000 high school students; the OLAF Pro Bono Program, which works to meet the civil legal needs of the poor; and a program of the Midwest Center for Law and the Deaf that provides access to legal services for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.