DEDHAM – The Maine Volunteer Lawyers Project, which annually provides free legal assistance to thousands of low-income Mainers, will celebrate 24 years of “Doing Maine Justice” with a reception on Wednesday, Sept. 19, at the Lucerne Inn.

Warren M. Silver of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court will present the 2007 Lew Vafiades Pro Bono Award to Bruce C. Mallonee of the Bangor firm of Rudman & Winchell, in recognition of Mallonee’s efforts to provide the impoverished with access to civil legal justice. The award is named for Bangor lawyer Lew Vafiades, who was renowned for his commitment to public service.

Since the inception of the Volunteer Lawyers Project in Portland in 1988, Mallonee has taken on 43 pro bono cases and donated 817 hours to poor clients. Those hours have been spent predominantly in family matters, often involving clients suffering domestic violence. The cases have spanned five counties, taking Mallonee to courts in Bangor, Ellsworth, Rockland, Belfast, Newport, Dover-Foxcroft and Lincoln.

Since 2004, Mallonee has been recognized annually with awards for pro bono work by the Maine Volunteer Lawyers Project, the Maine Bar Foundation and-or the Maine State Bar Association.

The Volunteer Lawyers Project also celebrates the seventh anniversary of its Bangor office, which was designed to support legal volunteerism in Aroostook, Piscataquis, Penobscot, Washington, Hancock and Waldo counties.

Over the past seven years, the Bangor Lawyer of the Day program has placed 1,429 cases with volunteers in those counties. At the reception, Maine Superior Court Justice Kevin M. Cuddy, one of the leaders in establishing the Bangor office, will speak about its creation, volunteers and success.

The master of ceremonies will be Maine Assistant Attorney General Thomas A. Harnett, immediate past president of the Maine Bar Foundation and co-chairman of the project’s advisory committee.

This is the third year that owners Steve and Rhonda Jones have donated the Lucerne Inn for this annual celebration of volunteers.

For information, visit www.vlp.org.