THE verdict is in. The 2020 Access to Justice Awards Celebration was a resounding success. The event, hosted by Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc., Legal Aid of Western Ohio, Inc. and the Toledo Bar Association Pro Bono Legal Services Program, raised about $70,000. The event, normally attended by over 500 guests, went virtual because of the coronavirus pandemic. To view a recording of the event, go to justiceforallcampaign.org/access-to-justice-awards.
Sponsors and VIPs tuned in early for a reception before the live event.
Keynote speaker Lisa Rice, president and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance, has led investigative teams for cases resulting in the elimination of systemic discriminatory practices of lending, appraisals, insurance, rental, and real estate. The former Toledo resident who has managed fair housing organizations for 25 years, including the Toledo Fair Housing Center and the Northwest Ohio Development Agency, played a major role in crafting sections of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and in establishing the Office of Fair Lending within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
In due process, three individuals were honored for their extraordinary service to economically disadvantaged people:
Dean Horrigan, Esq., received the 2020 Public Interest Law Award. He was honored for his senior advocacy as advocacy committee chairman of the Coalition of Organizations Protecting Elders (COPE). He has tracked legislation and provided legislators with education about elderly abuse issues.
Veralucia Mendoza received the 2020 Community Advocacy Award. She was honored for her immigrant rights advocacy and the creation of Mutual Aid Toledo in response to the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent economic impact. She has served in rapid response for migrant worker justice, LGBTQ+ migrant rights, and responding to ICE raids to organize swift aid. Mendoza is also the regional field manager at Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio.
E. James Stengle, III, received the 2020 Distinguished Service Award. The senior vice president, employee benefits, at Hylant was honored for his extensive volunteer service at ABLE, LAWO, and the TBA and the annual Access to Justice Dinner. Currently, he is the chairman of the Toledo Cultural Arts Center, a Valentine Theatre Board of Trustees member and chairman of the Mental Health and Recovery Services Board of Lucas County.
Thanks go to the 75 sponsors including Dana Inc. and Buckeye Broadband plus Fifth Third Bank; O-I Glass, Inc.; Owens Corning; Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP, and Spengler Nathanson, PLL, and more including law firms, banks, and realtors.
Kudos go to the event co-chairmen Heather Lee Allred, Brouse McDowell, LPA, and Carasusana Wall, Zoll & Kranz, LLC.
ROBERT “Bob” Anspach, who founded the firm Anspach Meeks Ellenberger LLP, now Anspach Law, in 1986, and his son, Michael Anspach, have teamed together and moved to new digs in downtown Toledo at Huron and Washington. A grand opening celebration was last Thursday with a ribbon cutting attended by Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, followed by a reception under a giant tent. Small groups of guests, with masks, were given red carpet tours. Michael Anspach, a Maumee Valley Country Day School 2004 graduate, toured around the country gaining education and experience, then returned to Toledo and became an associate in 2018 and a partner in 2019. He bought the building for the new location, so his dad is now a tenant.
The firm's Toledo office has 25 employees including 12 attorneys. Other office locations are Columbus and Charleston, W. Va.
First Published October 15, 2020, 10:30 a.m.
