On April 4, 2012, the City Bar Justice Center held its 7th Annual Gala to recognize outstanding pro bono work by leaders in the New York City community: a corporate partner and a law firm partner. This year the Justice Center honored two noteworthy partners in justice: Debevoise & Plimpton and Bank of New York Mellon.

BNY Mellon played a major role in the City Bar’s facilitation of the Reopened 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund clinics, counseling first responders and other individuals living or working near the World Trade Center site who developed late-onset illnesses after the close of the original Victim Compensation Fund. BNY Mellon has also volunteered with the City Bar’s Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project (NELP), where the attorneys provide small business owners with brief legal advice and services regarding all aspects of starting and running a for-profit entity.

“The work of the City Bar Justice Center makes us realize that we live and practice law in a city of contrasts – that is a euphemistic way of describing inequality… [which means] that the City Bar Justice Center is now a more-important-than-ever provider of services that give low-income New Yorkers a fair shot [in life],” said BNY Mellon General Counsel Jane Sherburne.

In 2011 alone, Debevoise attorneys in the U.S. performed over 51,000 hours of pro bono work. The firm supports and encourages its attorneys to pursue volunteer and pro bono opportunities early on in their careers as a part of growing and strengthening the work they do day-to-day. In the past five years, Debevoise attorneys have readily assisted with many of the City Bar’s pro bono projects, including the Veterans Assistance Project, the Refugee Assistance Project, the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, and the Immigrant Women & Children Project, among others.

“The steady growth of the Justice Center’s volunteer army is testament… to the important role the Justice Center plays in our community,” said Debevoise partner John Kiernan in his acceptance speech. “My firm is proud of our association with this great organization.”

The City Bar Justice Center would like to congratulate Bank of New York Mellon and Debevoise & Plimpton on their awards for excellence in pro bono. The Justice Center thanks and commends these two partners for their ongoing perseverance and dedication to assisting clients in all City Bar projects, as this work cannot be done without them.