Philadelphia Bar Foundation Adds Team Members
Creating supportive leadership to address growth and expansion projects
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (November 13, 2017) – The Philadelphia Bar Foundation, Philadelphia’s only foundation dedicated to strengthening the delivery of civil legal aid, announces the addition of Laura Powers as the organization’s Director of Marketing and Development and Paul Kirk as Director of Operations. Ms. Powers will manage community outreach, partnerships, and embody the Bar Foundation’s mission of advancing access to justice. She brings more than 25 years of marketing, media, and management experience as well as expertise in development and capacity expansion. Ms. Powers most recently spent time as the Chief Marketing Officer of Furia Rubel Communications. Kirk served at the Philadelphia Bar Association as a paralegal and representative of the Judicial Selection Committee earlier this year before joining the Philadelphia Bar Foundation.
The growth of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation’s team in recent months coincides with dynamic and exciting projects. The Bar Foundation is spearheading the development of an Equal Justice Center to be located in Chinatown. In addition, the Bar Foundation will increase the number of legal aid nonprofit partners they provide with unrestricted grants and services in 2018.
Executive Director, Jessica Hilburn-Holmes, says, “Our commitment to funding the future for legal aid and our vision for unifying the city’s legal community has attracted a gifted staff, a dedicated board of trustees, and many committed volunteers. The Philadelphia Bar Foundation is positioned to continue to have impact and grow that impact even more in the near future. We are cultivating an incredible team of Philadelphia legal aid ambassadors to amplify the voice of our nonprofit partners and educate the region on the critical need for free legal services.”
The Philadelphia Bar Foundation provides annual grants and other support to 38 legal aid nonprofit partners as a fundamental part of its mission. Critical grants provided to its legal aid nonprofit partners allow those organizations to provide vital services for tens of thousands of people facing civil legal obstacles across Philadelphia and our region.
In her career, Ms. Powers has worked with many law firms, nonprofit organizations and businesses including Feldman Shepherd, NewCourtland Senior Services, Generocity, Habitat for Humanity Bucks County, Willig, Williams & Davidson, the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., StoneMor Partners, Reed Tech (a LexisNexis® Company), Penn Community Bank and the Bucks County Bar Association. “I’m joining the Bar Foundation’s executive team at an incredible time and could not be more enthusiastic about the direction we are headed,” Powers says. She is currently a Northeast Regional board member for the Legal Marketing Association and a board member for Tabor Children’s Services.
Mr. Kirk will be filling a role the Bar Foundation has never had before: expanding their finance and administrative strategies in conjunction with innovative technology and database management. He previously held a leadership role at Comcast for more than 10 years, was operations manager at Olde City Services Corporation, worked on Lynn Yeakel’s campaign for U.S. Senate and was a contributor to The Legal Intelligencer.
Powers and Kirk will be based in the Philadelphia location that is shared with the Philadelphia Bar Association and both are thrilled to be a part of this community. “Our team will continue to demonstrate that the legal community works hard to support attainable, affordable, and innovative legal services for all Philadelphians,” says Kirk.
