Featured Volunteers
November/December 2011 Volunteer Feature: City Bar Justice Center Announces Winners of Third Annual Jeremy G. Epstein Awards for Pro Bono ServiceThe City Bar Justice Center, the pro bono affiliate of the New York City Bar, announced the winners of the third annual Jeremy G. Epstein Awards for Pro Bono Service. Honoring volunteer lawyers for outstanding work on Justice Center projects, the awards were presented at a Celebration of Service reception on Monday, October 24th, as part of National Pro Bono Week. Learn more |
November/December 2011 Volunteer Feature: Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman Presides Over The Legal Aid Society's 2011 Pro Bono AwardsOn November 9th the Society's 2011 Pro Bono Awards Ceremony, held at Espace, honored 328 leading pro bono lawyers along with 43 law firms, and one corporation for their outstanding pro bono services with The Legal Aid Society. This select group of professionals was nominated from the record-setting participation of more than 3,400 attorneys and other legal staff - primarily from New York's leading law firms and corporate departments - who handled more than 6,500 matters on behalf of The Legal Aid Society's clients. Learn more |
October 2011 Volunter Feature: Julia Milne of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP Finds Success in Coming to the aid of an Abused Mother
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October 2011 Volunter Feature: Law Firms Co-Counsel with The Legal Aid Society on Law Reform and Appellate Work that Seek Systemic Change and Correction of Unjust Legal DeterminationsThe Legal Aid Society's partnerships with New York's major law firms have supported Legal Aid's unique ability to go beyond any one case to create more equitable outcomes for individuals and broader, more powerful systemic change for society as a whole. Throughout its history, the Society and its pro bono law firm partners have worked tirelessly to achieve systemic change and justice for the clients of our Civil, Criminal, and Juvenile Rights Practices and their respective appellate units. Learn more |
September 2011 Volunteer Feature: Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP Pro Bono Removal Defense Program with The Legal Aid Society Provides Model for Pro Bono Partnerships
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September 2011 Volunteer Feature: Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP Provides Counsel to Detained New York Immigrants through an Innovative City Bar Justice Center Project
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August 2011 Volunteer Feature: Longtime Volunteer Honored for Helping Expand LGBT Law Project
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July/August 2011 Volunteer Feature: Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP's Financial Restructuring Group Provides Pro Bono Assistance to Elderly and Ill Through City Bar Justice Center ProjectsThe City Bar Justice Center is pleased to recognize Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP for its work with the CBJC's Elderlaw and Cancer Advocacy projects. Strook attorneys have provided pro bono assistance to ensure the dignity and independence of the elderly and to educate cancer patients and survivors on issues related to discrimination in the workplace, health law, insurance issues, access to public benefits, advance directives, and wills. Learn more |
July/August 2011 Volunteer Feature: Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP Awarded the American Bar Association's 2011 Pro Bono Publico AwardPaul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP received the American Bar Association's ("ABA") 2011 Pro Bono Publico Award on August 9, 2011 at the ABA's annual meeting in Toronto Canada. The firm was nominated by The Legal Aid Society, Lawyers Alliance for New York, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund ("LDF"), Inc., and New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. Learn more |
June 2011 Volunteer Feature: Attorneys from Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP Successfully Reopen 14-Year Old Removal Order for Clients
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June 2011 Volunteer Feature: Pro Bono Attorneys from Reed Smith LLP Win Thousands in Retroactive Benefits for the City's Homeless
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June 2011 Volunteer Feature: Evan R. Chesler, of Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, Successfully Argues Major Criminal Appeal
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May 2011 Volunteer Feature: Blank Rome LLP Empowers Low Income Microentrepreneurs through Access to Legal CounselIn summer 2010, Blank Rome LLP came to the City Bar Justice Center in an effort to expand and strengthen its pro bono practice. While the firm already had a robust pro bono practice tailored to the skills and desires of its litigators, it was interested in increasing the participation of its corporate and transactional practitioners in a way that would best utilize their expertise. The Justice Center's Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project was a perfect fit. Learn more |
May 2011 Volunteer Feature: Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP Receives the New York State Bar Association's 2011 President's Pro Bono Service Large Firm Award
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May 2011 Volunteer Feature: O'Melveny & Myers Authors Detainee Health Manual
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April 2011 Volunteer Feature: City Bar Justice Center Gala Honors Global Pro Bono Work of Barclays PLC and Linklaters LLP
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April 2011 Volunteer Feature: Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP Partners With the Legal Aid Society on Innovative New York City Public Housing Pro Bono ProjectEach year thousands of low-income New Yorkers are in danger of losing their New York City Housing Authority ("NYCHA") apartments, the most important and largest source of affordable housing in New York City. If these homes are lost, the tenants, many of whom are elderly or have small children, are at risk of becoming homeless. Only a small number of NYCHA tenants are represented by counsel, increasing the likelihood that they will lose irreplaceable housing. Seeking to increase access to justice for this vulnerable population through expanding our limited resources, The Legal Aid Society has partnered with Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP to create a comprehensive administrative and judicial representation model. Learn more |
March 2011 Volunteer Feature: Morrison & Foerster LLP Associate Amy Phillips Saves HIV Law Project Client from eviction.
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March 2011 Volunteer Feature: Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP and The Legal Aid Society Obtain Class Action Settlement that Mandates Reform of New York City Foster Care Agency Psychiatric Hospitalization PracticesWe are pleased to announce that a class action settlement has been reached in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York prohibiting the City of New York from continuing practices that cause children in its care to languish in psychiatric hospitals longer than medically necessary. The Legal Aid Society and the law firm of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP filed the underlying lawsuit in May 2010 on behalf of a class of children in foster care, alleging that the City had systematically violated laws requiring children to be placed in the least restrictive and most homelike environments possible. Learn more |
March 2011 Volunteer Feature: Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP Partners with the City Bar Justice Center to Help Disabled VeteransDavis Polk & Wardwell LLP currently has nearly 30 attorneys working with the Veterans Assistance Project of the City Bar Justice Center. In recent months, the firm has accepted seven new matters involving veterans from different periods of service ranging from WWII to Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition to assisting veterans and their families, Davis Polk attorneys represent a wide range of pro bono clients in need of assistance. Learn more |
February 2011 Volunteer Feature: Dewey & Leboeuf LLP Creates State Prison Advocacy Project Based Upon Associate Kelli Lanski's Fellowship with The Legal Aid Society's Prisoners' Rights Project
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February 2011 Volunteer Feature: Paul, Hastings, Janofsky and Walker LLP Partners with City Bar Justice Center to Assist Debt-Burdened New Yorkers
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December 2010/January 2011 Volunteer Feature: Vanessa Bressler, Simpson Thacher & BartlettThe City Bar Justice Center is pleased to recognize Vanessa Bressler, an associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, for her outstanding work as a pro bono attorney with the Refugee Assistance Project. In the Project, pro bono attorneys are trained and then paired with individuals seeking asylum. Learn more |
December 2010/January 2011 Volunteer Feature: O'Melveny & Myers LLP Partners with The Legal Aid Society to Protect Hospitalized Inmates from Barbaric Shackling PracticesThe Legal Aid Society's Prisoners' Rights Project and O'Melveny & Myers LLP obtained a highly favorable settlement in Reynolds v Horn, a high-impact civil rights case involving the treatment of inmates in prison psychiatric wards, as well as those out-posted to civilian medical wards under the supervision of New York City's Department of Correction. Learn more |
The Immigrant Women and Children Project of the City Bar Justice Center is pleased to recognize Julia Milne, an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, who successfully represented a survivor of domestic violence obtain a special visa for victims of crimes. Thanks to Ms. Milne's efforts, her client can now support herself and her 7 year-old son. 
Since 2007, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP has provided invaluable pro bono assistance to immigrants by creating a removal defense program in which it co-counsels removal cases in Immigration Court with attorneys from The Legal Aid Society's Immigration Law Unit. Simpson's pro bono clients are eligible for relief from removal, but must prove that they deserve such relief by presenting a comprehensive, detailed account of their lives here in the United States. Simpson pro bono attorneys help with every step of the process. 
For nearly two years the NYC Know Your Rights Project, a collaboration of the City Bar Justice Center, The Legal Aid Society and the NYC chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), operated a pro bono clinic for detained immigrants at the Varick ICE Detention Facility. Volunteer attorneys from participating law firms, including Orrick, conducted screening interviews and under the mentorship of immigration experts from AILA, determined whether immigration relief was available. They then advised the client and made appropriate referrals to pro bono (or "low bono") counsel. After the detention facility was closed in early 2010, the project adapted to the logistical changes in the system after consulting with participating law firms on the feasibility of attorneys providing extended pro bono representation in immigration court. .jpg)
Clara Ricciardi, a volunteer attorney at NYLAG since 2009, was honored at the UJA-Federation of New York's recent Volunteer Recognition Ceremony for her hard work and dedication to NYLAG's LGBT Law Project. On a daily basis, Ricciardi responds to telephone intake calls, advocates on behalf of clients, conducts legal research, and drafts motions and other court documents. Thanks to her involvement over the last two years, the LGBT Law Project has significantly expanded the number of individuals it is able to help. 
HIV Law Project recognizes Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP for their zealous representation of marginalized immigrants living with HIV/AIDS who are threatened with deportation. A team of dedicated attorneys recently obtained rescission of a nearly 14-year old removal order so that two West African immigrants living with HIV/AIDS could pursue asylum. 
The City Bar Justice Center's Legal Clinic for the Homeless (LCH) provides advice, advocacy, and representation to residents of homeless shelters on a variety public benefits matters. Reed Smith LLP partners with the Project by staffing monthly clinics at the Clinton Family Inn to provide legal services to homeless clients. Since September 2007, Ann Kramer, a partner at Reed Smith, has represented 16 homeless families in approximately 49 cases. She has won nearly $10,000 in retroactive benefit awards that enabled homeless mothers to feed and provide basic necessities for their families. 
On May 24, 2011, the Appellate Division, Second Department handed a significant victory to The Legal Aid Society's Criminal Appeals Bureau client, Kareem Bellamy, in his decades-long struggle to overturn his wrongful 1996 Queens County murder conviction. The appellate court affirmed a ruling by Justice Joel Blumenfeld granting Mr. Bellamy's motion for a new trial based upon newly discovered evidence. Evan R. Chesler, Cravath Swaine & Moore's Presiding Partner, argued the case before the Second Department. David Crow of the Criminal Appeals Bureau ("CAB") represented Mr. Bellamy on the appeal, along with pro bono co-counsel Thomas Hoffman, a solo practitioner. .jpg)
The scope and breadth of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP's pro bono commitment was recognized by the New York State Bar Association at its May 2nd Pro Bono Awards Luncheon. Over the last three years, the firm's attorneys have devoted more than 190,000 hours to pro bono work to expand access to justice for low-income individuals and entities. Because of the firm's extraordinary pro bono work, a man on death row obtained a new trial based on prior ineffective assistance of counsel, individuals fleeing persecution gained asylum in the U.S., victims of domestic violence escaped their batterers, workers gained wages to which they were entitled, and various non-profit organizations received much needed corporate, tax and intellectual property assistance. 
HIV Law Project recognizes the outstanding work of O'Melveny & Myers LLP associate Janna Rearick who has researched and authored a comprehensive guide to immigrant detainees' medical rights and a "Know Your Medical Rights" brochure for detained immigrants. These documents will clarify governing standards for immigrants detained by the Department of Homeland Security who are living with HIV/AIDS and are routinely denied adequate medical care. 
On April 13, the City Bar Justice Center's 6th Annual Gala honored Barclays PLC and Linklaters LLP for exemplary leadership in their global pro bono programs, community projects and public service activities. While the City Bar Justice Award traditionally recognizes leadership and dedication to pro bono and public service in New York City, this is the first time the Justice Center has bestowed the honor on a firm and corporation for their efforts to improve the communities in which they do business worldwide. .jpg)
HIV Law Project recognizes Amy Phillips, an associate at the New York office of Morrison & Foerster LLP for her commitment to serving marginalized New Yorkers living with HIV who are threatened with eviction. 
Kelli Lanski, a Dewey & LeBoeuf fellow, spent a year with the Legal Aid Society's Prisoners' Rights Project, assisting with class action litigation and responding to communications from prisoners and their families. While serving as a fellow, she advocated on behalf of hundreds of prisoners, informing the Department of Correctional Services of issues like constitutionally inadequate medical care, officer brutality, and the Department's failure to protect prisoners from harm. When Kelli returned to Dewey & LeBoeuf, she spearheaded the creation of a State Prison Advocacy Project and continues to find other ways to advocate on behalf of prisoners and their families. 
Paul, Hastings, Janofsky and Walker LLP has assumed a leading role in assisting debt-burdened New York City residents through the City Bar Justice Center's Consumer Bankruptcy Project. Since participating in their first Bankruptcy Clinic in November 2010, a number of attorneys from Paul Hastings have donated their time and talent to the Project, returning on multiple occasions to meet with low-income clients in need of assistance. 
