Cavanaugh honored with Pro Bono award from Legal Services of South Central Michigan

Fraser Trebilcock attorney and shareholder Michael E. Cavanaugh has been honored by Legal Services of South Central Michigan (LSSCM) with its annual Pro Bono Award.

With an emphasis on preventing homelessness and domestic violence, and helping people access health care and food, LSSCM provides free legal guidance to those with low income and to senior citizens.
For the last decade, Cavanaugh has worked with LSSCM in its outreach to attorneys and law firms to provide pro bono hours and financial contributions.

LSSCM had just $400 in the bank when it was incorporated in 1962 by local lawyers, including one of Fraser Trebilcock’s founding partners, Archie Fraser. Now, its annual contributions from Ingham County lawyers total nearly $70,000.

“The legal community in Ingham County has been very generous,” Cavanaugh said. “This is all part of the State Bar of Michigan’s ‘Access to Justice’ program, that urges lawyers to recognize their responsibility to see that legal services are provided to people who are not able to afford lawyers.”

A highly experienced litigator with a long list of accolades, Cavanaugh has successfully litigated cases at all levels of the state and federal courts, including two cases before the United States Supreme Court.

He has been a member of Fraser Trebilcock's Board of Directors, and he is heavily involved in the State Bar of Michigan and the Ingham County Bar Association, for which he has served as a past-president.

A cum laude graduate of the University of Detroit, and a cum laude graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, Cavanaugh also is a veteran who served as a captain in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.