2005 Howard B. Eisenberg Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient

Attorney Richard Perry’s dedication to pro bono legal work spans a career nearly four decades long. After returning to Milwaukee from the Chicago area in 1965, Mr. Perry became involved in the civil rights movement, providing pro bono representation to freedom schools during the desegregation period.

In the late 1960’s, Mr. Perry and fellow attorneys Lloyd Barbee and Jim Shellow submitted a proposal to the federal Office of Economic Opportunity for an aggressive legal services program in Milwaukee. Thus was born Freedome Through Equality, Inc., the forerunner of Legal Action of Wisconsin (LAW).

Mr. Perry was an active member of the Board of Directors of LAW for 29 years. For three decades, he provided pro bono legal services to those in need, while working tirelessly to oppose funding cuts for legal services programs.