Lone Star Legal Aid Honors Jill Penn
On October 26, 2021, Jill Penn was awarded the Outstanding New Volunteer Award by Lone Star Legal Aid for her dedication to pro bono services in Cherokee and surrounding counties. Texas Supreme Court Justice Brett Busby and Smith County Judge Nathaniel Moran congratulated and thanked her for volunteering her time to Lone Star Legal Aid so that she can help those who need, but cannot afford, legal services. For more information on these services, please visit: https://www.lonestarlegal.org/
On October 18, 2021, Jill Penn was elected a Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation. The Texas Bar Foundation is a premier organization of attorneys in Texas. Membership is composed of the most elite Texas attorneys. The Foundation’s members are nominated because of their dedication to the administration of justice and high professional standing among their peers. For more information about this group, please visit: https://txbf.org/about-us/
Jill obtained a NOT GUILTY in a local high profile criminal matter in August 2016. Donald Lankford, City of Rusk Fire Chief, was accused of assaulting a teenager after a passenger in the teenager’s vehicle threw a lit firework at Donald’s fireworks stand where he, his daughter, and a customer were standing. The two teenagers took the witness stand to tell their story. The jury took less than 1 hour to find Donald Lankford NOT GUILTY of assault.
East Texas Matters Story
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In 2014, Richards T Penn were given the Community Service Award by the Jacksonville Fire Department in appreciation for taking an active interest in the fire safety education of the community.
Richards T Penn has been voted as the Readers Choice Favorite Attorney by the Jacksonville Daily Progress in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2019, 2021, and 2022.
At Richards T Penn, we feel it is our duty to not only do the best work we can for our clients, but to also do what we can for our community. From sponsoring local children’s baseball teams (JBSA), to handing out candy at Jacksonville’s Trunk or Treat to our "Wednesday Project," the attorneys and staff at Richards T Penn truly love participating in local events.
For us, Wednesday is not just another day in the office. For several years now, the staff and attorneys at Richards T Penn have been involved in our ongoing "Wednesday Project." The Wednesday Project is a project where we assist members of the community who have fallen on hard times in one way or another. We often rely on the community to tell us about potential projects, but we also seek out ways in which we can help when we learn of people who need a little boost.
Recent Wednesday Projects have involved donating funds to a bank account to pay for a child’s unexpected and tragic crib death when the child’s family could not afford a funeral, donating diapers, wipes, baby clothes, baby formula, and other infant gear to Living Alternatives in Jacksonville, donating a Lazy Boy to an injured car accident victim, and bringing lunch and a basket of Country Charm Candles to an older woman who had recently had surgery on her hand and could not prepare food very well. We also volunteer at the food kitchen at Helping Others Pursue Enrichments (HOPE) when we can.
The Wednesday Project is a program that arose out of all of us having the desire to help others. Richards T Penn is committed to helping our community, whether those community members are clients, friends, or previously unknown to us.
Richards T Penn also assists Veterans by providing legal work through the State Bar of Texas’s Texas Lawyers for Texas Veterans. We feel that our Veterans are some of, if not the, most important members of our society. And we are honored to assist them whenever and however we can.