Letter from the President

Letter from the President

Happy New Year from the AAML Foundation and me, its president! As we pivot into 2025, it’s the right time to consider what we’ve done well and how we can improve. For the AAML Foundation, the highlight of our year is grantmaking time, when the fruits of our labor are distributed. At the Lifetime Members’ Luncheon in November, we proudly announced the 2024 recipients of fifty (50) grants totaling $254,000, given to local organizations that provide services to children and families who are afflicted with parental conflict, domestic violence, marital dissolution, and insufficient access to legal institutions and resources. Those grants and scholarships include:

  • The Jim and Lea Hennenhoefer Grant – Lilac Tree, Evanston, IL
  • The Michael S.J. Albano Grant – Women’s Resource Center to End Domestic Violence, Decatur, GA
  • The Donn C. Fullenweider Grant – CASA of Monmouth County, Oak Hurst, NJ
  • The Hon. Anne Lamkin Durward Grant – CASA Board Volunteer Assn, Akron, OH
  • The Leonard Loeb 2024 Scholarship – Yasmeen Asfoor, University of Wisconsin

These are just some of the 50 grants given for 2024. For the third consecutive year in our 35-year history, our grants were fully funded by your donations to the Annual Billable Hour Campaign, which reached nearly $275,000 last year. Your generosity has made a big difference! That’s why we will be reviewing our grants policy this year to explore ways to expand our philanthropy. In line with fiduciary standards, our policy currently authorizes our Grants Committee to recommend grants equal to 4% – 8% of our assets each year. But since we’ve achieved the milestone of fully funding our grants, we might be able to give more. Do you want the AAML Foundation to make a grant in your neighborhood? There’s no better time than today to contact your favorite eligible nonprofit and encourage them to submit an application before May 15, 2025. The grant criteria are described here in the application.

That brings me to the topic of gratitude. We at the AAML Foundation would not be successful without your steadfast support of our Annual Billable Hour donors, Lifetime Members, Planned Giving Society Benefactors, Forensic & Business Valuation Division members, event sponsors, and AAML Chapters, not to mention the leadership of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. Let me take a moment to thank those who are responsible for our success:

  • 2024 Executive Committee: Gary Rosen, Julie Swain, Brian Sobol, Natalia Wilson, Helen Davis, Larry Moskowitz, and Jorge Cestero
  • 2024 Directors: Rob, Michele, Bob, JoAl, Renee, John, Jackie, Twila, Sue, Francesca, Elisha, Bruce, Deb, Richard, Lauren
  • 2024 Foundation Advisors: David, Barbara, Anita, Joy, Jim, Arnie, Sylvia, Suzanne, Meighan
  • Honorary Annual Campaign Chairs: Daniel Jaffe and Marlene Moses
  • Gary Rosen, Lauren Waddell, and the Fundraising Committee
  • Julie Swain and the Grants Committee
  • Brian Sobol, Bruce Steinfeld, John Durward, and the Publicity Committee
  • Finance, F&BV Membership, Nominating, Planned Giving and Policy Committees
  • Executive Director Kimberley Scott
  • F&BV Division Chairs Ken Pia and Larry Moskowitz
  • Howard Swibel, Nancy Gonsiorek, Mary Laurx, and Bob Schuldt
  • Academy officers and staff: Ben, Laura, Tom, Marlee, SmithBucklin
  • Our Luncheon Sponsor: CBIZ
  • Our Reception Sponsors: Aronson Mayefsky & Sloan and STOUT
  • Schiller DuCanto & Fleck, Loews Hotel, and University Club of Chicago

Each of us may have different causes that we support. What’s nice about the AAML Foundation is that it gives us a chance to come together over a cause that relates to our practice as family lawyers. As an organization dedicated to improving the practice of family law, the AAML supports the prevention of domestic violence. We support nonprofit organizations like the Fresh Start Women’s Foundation in Arizona, which provides services to DV survivors in 5 key areas: achieving independent households, obtaining family health care, building careers, stabilizing household finances, and getting vocational training.

We believe in extending legal services to communities that may be underserved, such as individuals with disabilities and people who are economically disadvantaged. The AAML Foundation makes grants to low-cost and no-cost legal clinics like the Conejo Free Clinic in California and the DC Affordable Law Firm. These are just a few examples of our teamwork as AAML Fellows making a difference to improve the lives of families within our ambit. Thank you for your support in 2024, and we look forward to connecting in 2025.