Eckenrode Maupin: Serving up Dinner at Ronald McDonald House

November 3rd, 2010. By BrendaC

This new LawyersandSettlements.com column looks at a side of lawyers you don’t hear too much about—the side that gives back…pays it forward..and shares the love. We’ve found quite a number of attorneys who log non-billable hours helping others—simply because they believe it’s the right thing to do. Their stories are inspiring, and hey, who knew lawyers were so…good? If you’ve got a story to share about an attorney who’s doing the right thing, let us know—we’d love to let others know, too. Today, we talk with John Fischesser of Eckenrode Maupin…

Attorney John Fischesser: “It’s important for us to give back”

These are difficult times for many people in the US–and because of that, lawyers and support staff at one medium-sized law firm in St. Louis are more committed than ever to using their extra time to help out wherever they can. “It’s just the culture that exists here,” says attorney John Fischesser of Eckenrode Maupin, “everyone in our office has been blessed with a job, an education, and it’s important for us to give back to people who find themselves in situations that are out of their control.” 

The firm does not mandate that attorneys and staff do volunteer work. “An email just goes out asking who’s available to help with a particular project and if they can they sign up,” says Fischesser who estimates that the firm donates hundreds of personal hours to everything from picking up litter with the Adopt-a-Highway program to hammering nails for Habitat for Humanity projects to raising money for cancer research. 

At least four times a year, the firm serves dinner at Ronald McDonald House in St. Louis. “There are usually ten of us there. We go out and buy the food—we probably contribute about 150 hours of volunteer time on that project alone each year,” says Fischesser. 

“You get time to interact with the people at the Ronald McDonald House dinners,” says Fischesser. “When you think about what those families are going through, just the fact that they are willing to share their time with us and take time to thank us—it’s really rewarding.” 

The Ronald McDonald house program provides families with a home-away-from-home while their child may be hospitalized at a non-local treatment center. The goal is for families to be able to put complete focus on the needs of the child without having to worry about finding an affordable place to stay, or where they may find their next meal. 

Eckenrode Maupin is a general civil litigation firm that handles both plaintiff and defense work. It defends doctors, nurses and healthcare providers caught in medical malpractice suits. On the plaintiff side, the firm handles everything from non-medical personal injury claims to wills and estates. 

“There are more people than ever who are in need during these difficult economic times,” says Fischesser, “and I think it would be easy for anyone to just focus on their own needs. But I think it’s important to realize that there are lots of people out there who need help—and volunteering is one of the things I enjoy doing with others from our firm.” 

Fischesser also works with the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis (BAMSL) which offers Wills for Heroes. According to Fischesser, “It’s a pro bono wills and estates clinic for police officers, firefighters and others. We hear from Wills for Heroes program coordinators that people who have more dangerous jobs are often reluctant to discuss their own mortality and sometimes don’t do the estate planning they should to ensure their loved ones are taken care of. It’s an ongoing project that BAMSL does once or twice a year.” 

John Fischesser is an attorney with Eckenrode Maupin in St. Louis, Missouri. His work focuses on civil litigation, including representing injured workers in worker’s compensation lawsuits, plaintiffs in personal injury matters, and defending insurance claims. Fischesser has tried over a dozen bench trials and is licensed to practice in Missouri, Illinois, and Louisiana.

Tags: Eckenrode Maupin, John Fischesser, Ronald McDonald House

This was posted on Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010 at 11:43 am and is filed under Lawyers Giving Back . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.