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Northwestern University School of Law honored Harle Montgomery and the Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Foundation for the establishment of the Thomas F. Geraghty Fund for Juvenile Justice on Thursday, May 9, at the Law School.

The Geraghty Fund, established with a $200,000 gift from the Montgomery Foundation, will boost the Bluhm Legal Clinic's efforts to reform the juvenile justice system and to represent children accused of serious crimes. Named in honor of clinic director, Thomas F. Geraghty, the fund will provide clinic students and faculty attorneys with resources to defend children who could otherwise not afford decent legal representation.

At any one time, faculty, staff and students in the Bluhm Legal Clinic handle between 40 and 50 juvenile cases. A portion of the Geraghty Fund will cover the cost of expert witnesses - psychiatrists, doctors, and counselors - whose expensive services are essential to represent troubled children.

"The fund will help legal clinic staff and students to represent children who face lengthy periods of incarceration in juvenile detention facilities or those who may be transferred to the adult system," said Geraghty who was stunned and extremely grateful when he learned of the Montgomery Foundation's generous donation. "It will allow us to intervene in cases where we may potentially save lives."

The Montgomery Foundation has a long philanthropic history of providing opportunities for minority students and in encouraging law school graduates to pursue careers in public services. The Foundation seeks to establish programs that inspire others to give as well, said Cynthia Kobel, executive director of the Montgomery Foundation. "We hope this will be the case with the Thomas F. Geraghty Fund for Juvenile Justice," she said.

"We are extremely grateful to Harle Montgomery for this very generous gift," says Geraghty. "We will do our best to earn the Montgomery Foundation's confidence in our efforts to provide state-of-the-art representation to children who are in jeopardy, and we will also continue to engage in the national debate over the future of juvenile justice with the aim of restoring confidence in our ability to treat children justly and humanely."

The Geraghty Fund will also support meaningful discussions about systematic reforms of juvenile justice in this country and implementation of children's rights around the world. By contributing to the advocacy work of faculty attorneys such as Steve Drizin, the fund will maintain the clinic's leading voice in efforts to strengthen juvenile courts, reduce the number of children sentenced as adults, and end the juvenile death penalty.

The clinic's pro bono Children's Law Program, which has partnered with the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago and the Jane Addams Juvenile Court Foundation, has trained in delinquency litigation over 80 volunteer attorneys from some of Chicago's most prominent law firms. The clinic also has conducted two major research projects that evaluate permanency planning and the clinical assessment and mental health services available at the Cook County Juvenile Court.

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