Guardian Ad Litem Joint Project with University of Missouri at Kansas City Law School Given Special Award for Creativity and Broad Participation

Sonnenschein's Guardian Ad Litem Joint Project with University of Missouri at Kansas City Law School (UMKC) was honored with a Special Award for Creativity and Broad Participation during the firm's Annual Partner's Weekend in January 2006.

The project was a product of several meetings between Jerry Wolf, of Sonnenschein's Kansas City office, and members of the UMKC Law School, during which discussion centered on the goal of creating a joint pro bono project.  Begun in January 2005, the effort features cooperation between students at the UMKC Law School, Sonnenschein lawyers in a mentoring role, and the judges responsible for making decisions as to the best interest of the children whose matters are presented before them.  Attorneys, appointed by the court as Guardians Ad Litem, interview persons with knowledge of, or an interest in, the children.  Ultimately, those attorneys make recommendations to the court, based on an investigation into the particular facts of the situation they have been appointed to assess.

During the course of the project's two year existence, 15 different Kansas City office attorneys and one paralegal have participated.  As a result of our efforts, we have been publicly applauded by both the faculty at UMKC Law School and the judges who routinely make decisions about the living situations of minors whose cases are brought before them.