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Thompson Coburn LLP Donates $120,000 to Fund Bill Guerri
Chair at LSEM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For media inquiries please call Marc Witengier 314.552.6564
November 14, 2005 - Thompson Coburn LLP announced today
that the firm will donate $120,000 to Legal Services of Eastern Missouri (LSEM),
creating the William G. Guerri Chair. Guerri, a longtime partner and former
managing partner of the St. Louis firm, is widely recognized as a leader in
the St. Louis legal community. The funding will enable LSEM's Children's Alliance
to hire a new attorney, to provide representation for special needs children
seeking to gain access to necessary education services.
LESM's Executive Director Dan Glazier commended the firm for
its action. "We are excited and deeply appreciative of the leadership Thompson
Coburn has shown in stepping up and fully funding a chair for the Children's
Legal Alliance. This funding will immediately support our clients who use this
crucial service, ensuring that scores of children have access to the educational
services they need."
Thompson Coburn's donation marks the first time a firm has
fully funded the creation of a new chair at LSEM. Thompson Coburn Chairman Tom
Minogue announced the new chair during the 2005 F. William McCalpin Wall of
Justice induction ceremony honoring five attorneys known for their pro bono
work in St. Louis. "Thompson Coburn is proud of its long record of commitment
to LSEM. Public service is a core value of our firm and its lawyers. And it
translates into hundreds of hours of volunteer legal service to LSEM, as well
as financial support. This new initiative allows LSEM to add an additional attorney
in a much needed area and to honor Bill Guerri."
Guerri, whose legal career began in 1946, has long been a
supporter of LSEM. Guerri began his legal career in 1946 as an associate with
the former law firm of Root, Ballantine, Harlan, Bushby, Palmer & Wood.
Guerri moved to the law Firm of Thompson & Mitchell in 1947, becoming a
partner with the firm in 1956. He became Managing Partner of the firm in the
late 1960s, and continued in that post until the late 1980s. The firm merged
with Coburn & Croft in 1996, forming the current firm of Thompson Coburn.
Guerri has long been active in civic organizations, having served in the past
as Chairman of the Board for the American Heart Association, St. Louis Chapter;
Legal Counsel for the United Way of Greater St. Louis; and as Curator for Central
Methodist University. Guerri's support for charitable and civic organizations
has earned him numerous awards, including the Arthur Straus Award from the American
Heart Association and the Missouri Bar Pro Bono Publico Award.
Guerri earned an A.B. from Central Methodist University in
1943, and an LL.B. from Columbia University School of Law in 1946. He is a longstanding
member of numerous professional organizations including the American Law Institute,
the American Bar Association, the American Judicature Association, the Missouri
Bar, the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, the Association of the Bar
of the City of New York and the American Bar Foundation.
Thompson Coburn LLP has approximately 300 attorneys
practicing in St. Louis, Washington, D.C., and Southern Illinois.
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