​The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) has announced the launch of the G. Duane Vieth Leadership Development Program, LSC’s first national grant initiative to support training in leadership skills in the field of civil legal aid. The program is generously funded by The Arnold & Porter LLP Foundation.

Each year, LSC will award up to 15 grants to leaders of LSC-funded legal aid programs. The grants may be used to support training, coaching, or other professional development in non-profit leadership skills, including data management and evaluation, maximizing client service with limited resources, finance and accounting, and smart use of information technology.

The program honors Arnold & Porter’s long-time Managing Partner, G. Duane “Bud” Vieth, who joined the firm in 1949 and is now a retired partner. “It is so appropriate that this program bears Bud Vieth’s name,” said Jim Sandman, President of LSC. “Bud led Arnold & Porter superbly for 22 years. He is my role model as a leader.” Sandman is a former Managing Partner of Arnold & Porter.

Richard Alexander, Arnold & Porter’s Managing Partner, added, “I can think of no individual more worthy to bear the name of LSC’s Leadership Development Program than Bud Vieth. It is with great pleasure that Arnold & Porter is recognizing Bud’s many contributions to our firm and the profession by teaming with LSC to fully support this initiative and play a role in the development of current and future leaders of legal aid programs.”

This is the first named initiative to result from LSC’s 40th Anniversary Campaign for Justice, a groundbreaking private fundraising effort to expand the impact and capacity of civil legal aid providers across the country. The campaign’s new Leadership Development Program will provide civil legal aid leaders with support they cannot access through general grants by creating a dedicated pool of funds specifically for leadership development.

“We are happy that the first named initiative of LSC’s 40th Anniversary Campaign honors a lawyer of the tremendous stature of Bud Vieth,” LSC Board Chair John G. Levi said. “This Campaign for Justice will help LSC and its grantees better tell their story and better provide the resources needed to improve the delivery of legal services to our low-income population, and we are grateful to Arnold & Porter for once again playing a leading role on behalf of the legal profession.”

LSC will administer a competitive application process for the Vieth Leadership Development grants. The 134 LSC-funded legal aid programs will each be eligible to receive one grant of up to $10,000 every five years.