HONESDALE, WAYNE COUNTY — The Wayne County Bar Association created a nonprofit subsidiary to deliver free legal services to low-income residents. That subsidiary has no employees, no independent office, and no financial separation from the bar association itself. It has filed seven consecutive years of federal tax returns that disclose nothing — no revenue, no expenses, no recipients, no dollar amounts of any kind. It continues receiving state grant money restricted to civil legal aid for custody and domestic violence cases.
The subsidiary is called Pro Bono Partnerships Inc.
What PBP Is Supposed to Do
The Pennsylvania IOLTA Board — the state system that distributes interest earned on lawyers’ client trust accounts to organizations providing civil legal aid — lists PBP as a current grant recipient for the 2025-2026 cycle.
IOLTA’s eligibility requirements state that applicants must be a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation, be tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3), and have as their primary purpose the provision of civil legal services without charge.
The IOLTA grantee description for PBP says the organization “focuses exclusively on the delivery of legal services in the greatest areas of unmet legal need in Wayne County: custody of children and domestic violence.”
Exclusively.
The WCBA’s own website describes the same program differently. Its pro bono page says “we provide free (‘pro bono’) legal service to people who are involved in court proceedings and cannot afford attorneys.”
“Court proceedings” is broader than “custody of children and domestic violence.” One description went to the state agency that writes the checks. The other faces the public. They don’t say the same thing.
The WCBA’s Equal Access Project document — adopted November 22, 2017, and the founding blueprint for the pro bono program — describes an anticipated annual budget that includes a $20,000 WCBA contribution, matching IOLTA grants, and $500 per-member payments from attorneys buying out of their pro bono obligations. WCBA members who don’t want to do 20 hours of free legal work can write a check to PBP instead.
How It’s Controlled
PBP was dormant for sixteen years before the WCBA reactivated it in 2017. Its sole public tax filing — a FY2017 990-EZ — reports zero revenue, zero expenses, and a single dollar in net assets. Its Schedule O describes PBP as “the non-profit subsidiary of the Wayne County (PA) Bar Association.” The WCBA’s own filings deny having a subsidiary. Both statements were made under penalty of perjury.
PBP’s founding resolution spells out a governance structure with no daylight between the two organizations. The WCBA President serves as PBP’s Board Director and Chair. PBP’s Treasurer is the WCBA Treasurer — by structural design. PBP has no employees. All administrative and financial services are performed by the WCBA.
Neither organization has an independent office. The WCBA’s address has bounced between the private law offices of its own officers across every year of available filings — and the phone number listed on every return from FY2014 through FY2019 is 570-253-2200, the Rechner Law Office number.
Who Controlled the Money
Three people have held the treasurer title that controls both the WCBA’s and PBP’s books.
Christine Rechner is PBP’s current Treasurer, according to Pennsylvania Department of State records. As PBP Treasurer, she controls the books for an organization that funds attorneys in custody and domestic violence cases. As Solicitor for Wayne County Children & Youth Services — a position she has held since 2015 — she represents the county agency on the opposite side of child dependency proceedings. PBP-funded attorneys could appear against her in the same courtroom, in the same category of case, drawing from a fund she manages.
She also designed the program. The WCBA website lists her as a member of the original formation committee that created PBP’s structure. And she edits the Wayne County Legal Journal, the WCBA publication that generates the bar association’s primary revenue — the same bar association that performs all of PBP’s financial and administrative services and contributes $20,000 a year to PBP’s budget.
Brendan Ellis held the treasurer title before her. He is listed as PBP’s Treasurer on the FY2017 filing — the only one that names officers — and simultaneously served as WCBA Treasurer, signing that year’s return as the organization’s authorized officer. That same filing lists Carl (Tobey) Oxholm III as President, Secretary, and Board Member, and Oressa Campbell — who also serves as a Guardian ad Litem for Wayne County Children & Youth Services — as a board member. Oxholm also serves as PBP’s Governor on the state corporate filing and chairs the WCBA Pro Bono Committee — the body that oversees the program PBP funds.
Joseph Rydzewski replaced Rechner on the FY2018 and FY2019 filings, signing both returns as the WCBA’s authorized officer. Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board records show he was disbarred on consent in February 1999 after stealing over $157,000 — $63,000 from clients and the rest from his own law firm through fraudulent expense reimbursements — while a senior shareholder at the Scranton firm O’Malley & Harris. He pleaded guilty to theft by unlawful taking in state court and to mail fraud in federal court, and served time in both the Lackawanna County Prison and federal prison. He was reinstated in March 2004. Those were the last two returns the WCBA ever filed before losing its exempt status.
Seven Years of Empty Filings
IRS records obtained through the Exempt Organizations Search tool show that PBP has filed 990-N e-postcards every year from 2018 through 2024. Each filing certifies that PBP’s gross receipts are “not greater than $50,000.” Each one lists Carl (Tobey) Oxholm III as principal officer at his Gouldsboro address.
A 990-N is the simplest possible federal filing — no revenue breakdown, no expenses, no grant recipients, no officer compensation. It is available only to organizations with gross receipts under $50,000. But the Equal Access Project document describes an anticipated budget that includes the $20,000 WCBA contribution, matching IOLTA grants, and member buy-out payments. If those sources are flowing as planned, PBP’s actual revenue would exceed the $50,000 threshold — and the organization would be required to file a 990-EZ disclosing real numbers, not an e-postcard that reveals nothing.
What Remains Unknown
No public record shows how PBP has spent a dollar of IOLTA grant money. No grant recipient has been named. No attorney compensation has been disclosed. No programmatic report has been made public. The organization exists, on paper, to serve Wayne County’s poorest residents in custody and domestic violence cases. Whether it is doing so — and whether the money restricted to that purpose has stayed within that purpose — cannot be determined from any document currently available to the public.
Wayne County does not appear to maintain a published conflict counsel fee schedule for criminal cases, unlike larger Pennsylvania counties. Whether criminal defense costs have been routed through the WCBA or PBP system — potentially commingling IOLTA-restricted civil legal aid funds with criminal case payments — remains an open question.
The Pocono Review has sent records requests to the WCBA and PBP under 26 U.S.C. § 6104, which requires tax-exempt organizations to produce their last three years of returns and original exemption applications within 30 days. A separate request has been sent to the Pennsylvania IOLTA Board seeking PBP’s grant application, budget, and spending reports. This story will be updated with any information received.
Pocono Review examined the sole available filing for Pro Bono Partnerships Inc. (EIN 23-2604391) covering fiscal year 2017, and IRS 990 and 990-EZ filings for the Wayne County Bar Association (EIN 23-2590246) covering fiscal years 2014 through 2019. PBP’s 990-N e-postcard filings for tax years 2018 through 2024 were obtained through the IRS Exempt Organizations Search tool. Corporate records for both PBP and WCBA were obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State business entity search. Attorney disciplinary history was obtained from the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court. The WCBA’s Equal Access Project document, adopted November 22, 2017, provided the founding resolution and governance structure for Pro Bono Partnerships Inc. IOLTA grantee information was obtained from paiolta.org.
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