Several LSBA Young Lawyers Division awards were presented to BRBA Young Lawyers and Young Lawyer Projects in June 2015

Several Young Lawyers Division awards were presented during a June 8, 2015, ceremony in conjunction with the LSBA Annual Meeting in Destin, Fla. Laranda Moffett Walker of Pearland, Texas, received the Hon. Michaelle Pitard Wynne Professionalism Award. She practices commercial litigation in the Houston office of Susman Godfrey, LLP. Prior to joining Susman in 2014, Walker worked in the Baton Rouge office of Phelps Dunbar, L.L.P. She was a member of the Leadership LSBA 2010-11 Class and is a former chair of the Baton Rouge Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section.

Rolando R. Urbina of Baton Rouge received the Pro Bono Award. He is an assistant public defender in Section 5 of the 19th Judicial District Court and the member-manager of the Law Offices of Rolando R. Urbina & Associates, L.L.C., in Baton Rouge. He currently serves as the president of the Louis A. Martinet Legal Society, Inc. Greater Baton Rouge Chapter and as a board member of Southeast Louisiana Legal Services. He is an investigator for the Louisiana Commission on Human Rights.

The BRBA Young Lawyers Section received the Service to the Public Award for its Self Help Resource Center (SHRC). The SHRC, launched in 2012, received 1,645 requests for assistance in 2014. Located at the East Baton Rouge Parish Family Court, the SHRC is a joint venture of the Baton Rouge Bar Foundation, the East Baton Rouge Parish Family Court, Southeast Louisiana Legal Services, Southern University Law Center, Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center and the Louis A. Martinet Legal Society, Inc.

Additionally, the BRBA Young Lawyers Section was honored with the Service to the Bar Award for its Health and Wellness Fair in January 2015. The half-day program addressed stress, anxiety and depression-related issues among young lawyers and law students and provided them with techniques for coping with this demanding profession in a healthy fashion.