A scholarship fund for injured workers has been established as a joint venture of the Iowa Trial Lawyers Association (ITLA) and its education and community service arm, the Iowa Civil Justice Foundation. The Byard Braley Scholarship Fund will provide money to injured workers or their family members to pay for education needed to sustain their livelihoods.

“Because injured workers are often unable to afford educational expenses for either themselves or their children, it is anticipated that over time there will be considerable demand for these scholarship funds,” said Tom Wertz, Chair of ITLA’s Workers’ Compensation Section.

Two Iowans received assistance from the scholarship fund in 2004.

Jo Gillespie of Des Moines received the first award in the fall. Gillespie, a clerical employee at an insurance company, suffered a debilitating cumulative trauma injury in the course of her employment. She turned to West Des Moines attorney Jerry Jackson for representation, and Jackson sponsored her application for scholarship funds. She later received funds to help her complete a course conducted by the Iowa Association of Realtors, so she could start a new career as a real estate broker.

Jessica Richards, a freshman student at the University of Northern Iowa from Fairbank, Iowa, recently received the second award from the Braley Fund, in the amount of $500 to help pay her tuition bill for the spring semester. Richards’ father, a volunteer firefighter, died while responding to a call in October 2003.

The ITLA’s immediate past president, Bruce Braley, established the Byard Braley Scholarship Fund during his term in office as a tribute to his father, who suffered a debilitating work injury in 1959. A World War II veteran, he was working as a grain elevator manager in Brooklyn, Iowa, when he fell from a ladder and shattered his right leg. The injury forced him to give up his job and become an insurance salesman. He died in 1980 at the age of 54.

Bruce Braley has pledged $5,000 over five years to start an endowment for the fund, an amount that has been matched by his law firm, Dutton, Braun, Staack & Hellman of Waterloo. Cedar Rapids attorney John Riccolo, co-chair of the Iowa Civil Justice Foundation, has also pledged $5,000 over five years to endow the Braley Fund.

The initial $15,000 pool is expected to be supplemented by contributions from other Iowa trial lawyers.