Wood Equal Access to Justice Award Given to Lauren Appolonia Roux

The 2025 Thomas Wood, Jr. Equal Access to Justice Award was given to Lauren Appolonia Roux at the 2026 Lycoming Law Association annual banquet. In announcing the award, John Pietrovito made the following comments:

Each year, the Law Association gives the Thomas Wood, Jr. Equal Access to Justice Award to a member who has gone above and beyond to donate their time, knowledge and skill to provide pro bono representation to low-income people in Lycoming County.

The recipient of this year’s award is Lauren Appolonia Roux. 

Lauren came to Williamsport in 2024 to join the law firm of Lepley, Engelman, Yaw, and Wilk as a family and civil law attorney.  She immediately contacted North Penn Legal Services to express her interest in helping victims of domestic violence with Protection from Abuse cases, due in part to her experience with those cases as a law student.

Lauren graduated in 2023 from the Drexel School of Law.  During her time there, she represented clients in custody and Protection from Abuse cases, as a Certified Legal Intern at Philadelphia Legal Assistance, and helped another legal organization in Philadelphia, called Dinah, that provides legal advice and representation to Jewish survivors of domestic violence.  After graduation, she served as a law clerk for the Honorable Jeffrey Trauger in the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas.

In the short time that Lauren has practiced in Lycoming County, she  volunteered to take 16 pro bono Protection from Abuse cases from North Penn Legal Services, which is far more than anyone could hope or expect from her, as a new attorney just starting her career in a very busy law firm.  This is clearly an area of the law to which she feels a specific dedication and desire to help.

Lauren also joined the Young Lawyers Division of the Lycoming Law Association, and one of the co-chairs tells us that she was enormously helpful with their annual blanket drive and participates in all of their social and charitable activities.

We are grateful to Lauren for stepping forward, reaching out, and embracing cases that are fraught with hostile opposing parties, evidence that is often very disturbing, and emergency timeframes that are incredibly challenging.  We are honored to recognize her service, and we are very fortunate to count her as one of the members of the bar in Lycoming County.

After the Wood Award presentation, Pennsylvania Bar Association Executive Director Matt Holliday presented Lauren with a PBA Pro Bono award.