Adams and Reese Partner Martin Stern, a founding board member of Louisiana Appleseed, will receive the Good Apple Legacy Award at the nonprofit’s 2024 Good Apple Gala Luncheon, scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 17, at Arnaud’s in New Orleans from Noon to 2 p.m.
Click here for more information on the luncheon.
Louisiana Appleseed hosts a Good Apple Luncheon to celebrate the previous year's work. Appleseed honors volunteers who have risen above the typical pro bono commitment with a Pro Bono Good Apple during the event.
This year, Appleseed will also honor special guests with Legacy Apples, including the 2009 board members – Stern, Bill Hines, Harry Hardin, Phil Wittmann, David Marcello, Caroline Fayard, and Elwood Cahill, Jr. The 2024 Louisiana Appleseed Pro Bono Honoree will be Toya Mathis, Hancock Whitney VP and Trust Relationship Manager.
Stern, who serves as General Counsel and the firm’s Appellate Team Leader, is a past director of both the national and Louisiana chapters of Appleseed. He formerly received Appleseed’s Evelyn Singer Award. New Orleans CityBusiness named Stern to “Leadership in Law” for spearheading the reestablishment of Louisiana Appleseed in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina.
In 2016, Stern was honored with the Louisiana State Bar Association’s Catherine D. Kimball Award for a project culminating in the state Supreme Court’s adoption of a rule allowing lawyers to earn CLE credit for pro bono representation.
Louisiana Appleseed is a statewide nonprofit based in New Orleans, Louisiana, focusing on policy-level solutions by recruiting attorneys to provide free services through a research-oriented approach to policy change. Louisiana Appleseed’s mission is rooted in three pillars dedicated to increasing Access to Justice, Opportunity, and Education.
The 2009 board of directors of Louisiana Appleseed helped lay the foundation for the nonprofit to serve thousands of people through many justice, opportunity, and education initiatives such as Appleseed’s Heirs’ Property Projects, unlocking more than $16 million in economic benefits to homeowners since 2007; the Feed More for Less Project, increasing public schools’ access to provide free breakfasts and lunches to children from 65% to 95%; and the Civil Legal Aid Supports Louisiana Project that has secured $3.5 million in state appropriations since 2019.