December 2025 News of Note
- richey92
- 1 hour ago
- 4 min read
DC Resource Bridge Brand Identity Wins Graphic Design Award
The DC Resource Bridge brand identity was entered into Graphic Design USA’s 62nd annual Graphic Design Awards competition, and it won. This recognition reflects the creativity, collaboration, and care that went into developing a visual identity that truly represents the purpose and impact of the DCRB. As a winning design, the DCRB brand identity will be featured in the 2025 GDUSA Design Annual, in print and online, alongside other leading design achievements. Take a peek at the DC Resource Bridge’s now award-winning branding below:
Thanks to our Early 2026 DC Walk for Justice 5K Sponsors!
The 2026 DC Walk for Justice 5K may be ten months away, but several generous sponsors have already signed up to show their support for next year’s event. Many thanks to the following firms for their early commitments!
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
Steptoe
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP
Fish & Richardson PC
To make your sponsorship commitment for the October 22, 2026 DC Walk for Justice 5K, please contact Daryl Byler, Director of Development and Communications, at byler@dcbarfoundation.org.
Save the Date for our 2026 Events
The new year is just around the corner! We hope you will mark your calendars and join us for our 2026 events:
May 6: President’s Reception. The President’s Reception thanks and honors our most generous donors – the members of our 77 Society.
June 24: Avenues to Justice. Avenues to Justice is an annual fundraiser event hosted by the Young Lawyers Network Leadership Council, featuring a cocktail hour and a panel conversation on various topics related to civil legal services in DC.
October 22: DC Walk for Justice 5K. The DC Walk for Justice 5K is the Foundation’s family-friendly, community-building educational and fundraising event, taking place during Pro Bono Week at Nationals Park.
Stay tuned throughout the year for more information about each of these events.
Legal Counsel for the Elderly Celebrates 50 Years
Congratulations to DC Bar Foundation grantee partner Legal Counsel for the Elderly (LCE) on 50 years of service to Washington, DC's senior community. This milestone was marked at a celebration on November 6th at the International Spy Museum, where community support for LCE was on display. The DC Bar Foundation's support for LCE began in 1978. Their early work focused on ensuring that our community's seniors had access to the benefits and supports to which they were entitled.
Since 2007, increased funding through Access to Justice and later the Civil Legal Counsel Projects Program has allowed the Foundation to expand its support for LCE's work, which now includes guidance for seniors navigating probate or estate planning processes, assistance for issues that impact housing, and services that ensure the safety and dignity of homebound seniors, in addition to continuing to ensure that our seniors receive their appropriate benefits and supports.
Our thanks and congratulations to LCE’s dedicated leadership and staff over the years for their unwavering commitment to protecting the rights and dignity of our community’s elders.
Join us today: December 17 DC Resource Bridge Chat
The DC Bar Foundation is hosting the next DC Resource Bridge Chat (formerly known as CIR Chat) TODAY, Wednesday, December 17, from 2:00 to 2:30 p.m.
We invite you to join us for a presentation on how the DC Resource Bridge is expanding its coverage to include new areas of law. In this chat, we will announce the new areas of law that will be open for intakes and referrals in mid-January, in addition to our current referral offerings. Additionally, we will explain our process for refining our system to encompass the new areas of legal coverage, onboarding new legal services providers, and training DC Resource Bridge staff to respond to calls for new legal issues.
When you register, please let us know if you have any specific questions regarding this expansion process. There will be time for a Q&A. Click here to register.
As of November 1, 2025, PNC becomes a Benchmark IOLTA Partner
The DC Bar Foundation administers the District’s Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (IOLTA) Program, a program created by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in 1985. Through this program, the Foundation receives the interest from thousands of pooled bank accounts and distributes it within the community in support of civil legal services for DC residents.
PNC Bank has agreed to increase its rate paid on Interest on Lawyers Trust Account (IOLTA) deposits effective November 1, 2025, making PNC Bank a Benchmark partner.
Benchmark and Prime Partner banks have committed to supporting legal services in our community by offering market rates. Banks that pay market rates on their IOLTA deposits and those that newly commit to this support will be recognized and highlighted throughout the year. Thank you, PNC Bank, for partnering with us to continue supporting needed legal services for residents of the District of Columbia. We appreciate you!
Learn more about the IOLTA Program here.
LRAP Continues to Support Legal Aid Attorneys across DC and Beyond.
The DC Bar Foundation’s Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) provides legal services attorneys with up to $12,000 per year in interest-free, forgivable loans to help pay down their educational debt. LRAP helps make it more possible for these top-notch attorneys to continue working at legal services organizations. Here are some highlights from LRAP in FY25 (October 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025):
We assisted a total of 84 attorneys, comprising of 45 participants enrolled in Public LRAP (for attorneys who work and live in DC) and 39 participants in Private LRAP (for attorneys who work in DC but do not live in DC), across 26 eligible legal organizations.
The average LRAP participant indebtedness was $153,582.
The average LRAP participant salary was $63,931.
39% of LRAP participants are from DC area law schools.