Georgia Lawyers for the Arts, a nonprofit organization that connects artists and arts organizations with pro bono legal assistance, has named Ballard Spahr its Patents Firm of the Year and firm Partner Richard W. Miller its Arts Volunteer of the Year for outstanding contributions in 2023.

Last year, 38 Ballard Spahr lawyers and IP professionals contributed more than 1,200 hours of pro bono representation on matters referred by Georgia Lawyers for the Arts (GLA) and its affiliate, Georgia PATENTS. Those lawyers and professionals hail from the firm’s Atlanta, New York, Philadelphia, and Phoenix offices, and worked on matters spanning 50 different clients.

Ballard Spahr has been a leading contributor of pro bono services through GLA and Georgia PATENTS for many years. The 2023 Firm of the Year Award marks the fourth time the firm has garnered that honor in recent years.

Mr. Miller, managing partner of Ballard Spahr’s Atlanta office and practice leader of the firm’s Intellectual Property Litigation Group, is a longtime Georgia PATENTS volunteer. In addition to his patents pro bono work last year, he led a Ballard Spahr team that helped an Atlanta-area music producer free himself from an oppressive recording contract and overreaching injunction that had resulted from unscrupulous actions against him. The team included Keisha O. Coleman and Laura Krabill from Ballard Spahr’s Litigation Department, as well as Austin M. Brown, Kyle A. Ceuninck, Kirsten E. Fehlan, and Alan White, Ph.D. from the Intellectual Property Department.

GLA recognized Mr. Miller, his Ballard Spahr colleagues, and the firm at an event April 11 at Emory University School of Law.

GLA promotes collaboration and understanding among members of the legal profession and the arts community and educates artists about their legal rights and responsibilities.Georgia PATENTS assists solo inventors, nonprofits, and small businesses in Georgia and South Carolina in finding patent agents and attorneys to help draft and file patents applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on a pro bono basis. GLA created Georgia PATENTS to help the USPTO fulfill its congressionally supported mission to establish pro bono patent programs nationwide to help offset the advantages of large, well-funded corporations.