10.24.2014

Plunkett Cooney, one of the oldest and largest law firms in the Midwest, has been awarded the 2014 Lifetime Community Service Award by the DRI – the Voice of the Defense Bar.

Plunkett Cooney received the award on Oct. 23 during the DRI Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA. According to Plunkett Cooney’s President & CEO Henry B. Cooney, the firm’s selection as this year’s award winner was somewhat unexpected.

“We were surprised, to be honest, because this award has traditionally been presented to individual DRI members,” Cooney said. “It’s certainly a wonderful honor and a tribute to all of the outstanding volunteer work our attorneys and staff performed last year.”

DRI is the nation’s leading organization of defense attorneys and in-house counsel. With approximately 22,000 members, DRI has served the defense bar for more than 50 years, focusing on education, justice, judicial balance, economics and professionalism.

Plunkett Cooney was selected as the 2014 Lifetime Community Service Award recipient based on its decades long commitment to community service, as well as extraordinary efforts firm members made last year to positively impact their communities through volunteerism.

As part of its centennial celebration in 2013, Plunkett Cooney launched a 100 Acts of Kindness (AOK) campaign whereby two or more firm members would come together to complete volunteer efforts of their choosing. Although the goal was to complete 100 AOKs, firm members actually exceeded that number with neighborhood clean-ups, service at community soup kitchens, clothing drives for the needy, and many other efforts.

“This was truly a firm wide effort,” said Plunkett Cooney partner Ellen Jannette, who co-chaired the AOK campaign with her partner Richard Szymczak. “It was great to see so many of our attorneys and staff come together and pour their hearts into some really wonderful acts of kindness.”

Established in 1913, Plunkett Cooney employs 150 attorneys in nine Michigan cities, Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana. The firm, which provides a range of transactional and litigation services, has achieved the highest rating (AV) awarded by Martindale-Hubbell, a leading, international directory of law firms. Fortune magazine has also named Plunkett Cooney among the top commercial firms in the United States.

For more information about Plunkett Cooney’s selection as the 2014 DRI Lifetime Community Service Award recipient, contact the firm’s Practice Development Manager John Cornwell at (248) 901-4008 or jcornwell@plunkettcooney.com.