American Bar Association honors KLOP with award
The University of Nebraska at Kearney law program is among a group of Nebraska colleges receiving an award for advancing legal services and access in the state.
The Rural Law Opportunities Program is the 2018 winner of the Brown Select Award, given by the American Bar Association Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services.
The award – which recognizes the Kearney Law Opportunities Program – is given annually to programs that advance legal services and access for those of moderate income. It will be presented Feb. 2 at the ABA Midyear Meeting in Vancouver, Canada.
RLOP was among 43 nominees and won the award after receiving more than 3,000 online public votes.
The Kearney Law Opportunities Program launched in 2016 and is a collaborative partnership between UNK and University of Nebraska College of Law. The program recruits students from rural areas and trains them to become lawyers who will return and practice in their communities.
KLOP aims to ensure rural Nebraska areas have access to legal representation while encouraging students from those areas to pursue legal studies in order to return to their communities to meet the demand for attorneys.
“The University of Nebraska College of Law appreciates being part of a partnership focused on bringing great students into the legal profession while also helping solve the problem that Nebraska’s rural areas do not have enough lawyers,” said Richard Moberly, dean of the University of Nebraska College of the Law.
Participants in KLOP receive their bachelor’s degrees at UNK and are then guaranteed admittance into Nebraska College of Law. Wayne State College and Chadron State College also partner with UNL College of Law to offer RLOP.
RLOP will receive the Brown Select Award, and the Chicago Bar Foundation will receive the 2018 Louis M. Brown Award. The American Bar Association will also acknowledge the British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal and Chi City Legal from Chicago for Meritorious Recognition.
