Ryan Neville, SC Bar YLD Programs Receive Recognition at ABA Conference
June 1, 2015
COLUMBIA, SC – Ryan Neville of Wills, Massalon and Allen, LLC in Charleston received an American Bar Association (ABA) Young Lawyers Division (YLD) Star of the Quarter award for his contribution to the Project Street Youth legal clinic in Tampa. Four SC Bar programs were also publicly recognized at the conference.
Ryan is a co-chair of the SC Bar YLD’s Project Street Youth Committee and serves as secretary and treasurer for the Division. On May 15 in conjunction with the ABA YLD conference, he led a team of young lawyers from S.C. and across the country to host a Project Street Youth legal clinic in Tampa at Seminole Heights Charter High School. The clinic assisted more than 40 high school students with various legal issues from criminal matters to entrepreneurial endeavors.
“Our students greatly enjoyed and certainly benefitted from the legal clinic,” said Principal Bobby Smith of SHCHS. “At the end of the day, the borders of our state did not prevent S.C. lawyers from assisting our students, and for that I extend a heartfelt thank you.”
Project Street Youth is a project of the ABA YLD’s Public Service Team in partnership with the Center on Children and the Law and the Commission on Homelessness and Poverty. The program’s goal is to provide access to justice for homeless and transitional youth by raising awareness, promoting effective legislation and providing free legal clinics. Project Street Youth has been implemented in several states by local bar affiliates, including South Carolina.
The ABA YLD council also recognized the SC Bar YLD as one of three state affiliates providing exemplary services to its members and the public at large. The programs recognized included the SC Bar YLD’s own Project Street Youth implementation, “Living Above the Bar” health and fitness program, social events involving YLD family members and continuous involvement in Special Olympics South Carolina.
For more information about these YLD programs, visit www.scbar.org/yld.
The SC Bar YLD includes all members of the SC Bar under the age of 36 and those with less than five years of membership. The South Carolina Bar, which has a membership of more than 15,000 lawyers, is dedicated to advancing justice, professionalism and understanding of the law.
