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The Legal Aid Society held the 2022 Pro Bono Publico Awards Ceremony at the Prince George Ballroom on Tuesday, October 25th, honoring individual attorneys and law firms for their outstanding and sustained achievements in pro bono services.
Each year, The Legal Aid Society works with over 100 law firms and national law schools across New York City. The firms recognized were nominated by Legal Aid staff in every borough for their exceptional commitment to ensure that no New Yorker is denied the right to equal justice. The Honorable Anthony Cannataro, Acting Chief Judge of the State of New York, presented the awards to the honorees.
“The impact of pro bono volunteers on our ability to zealously advocate for our clients is indispensable and we are incredibly proud to honor the contributions of these individuals and firms,” said Twyla Carter, Attorney-in-Chief and Chief Executive Officer of The Legal Aid Society. “We are deeply appreciative of the undeniable impact their work has in the lives of our clients, and look forward to continuing to partner with these firms to advance justice for the communities we serve.”
The Public Interest Law Leadership Award was presented to Jennifer L. Colyer of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP in recognition of her extraordinary contributions as a volunteer attorney, for her constant support of The Legal Aid Society and our client communities, and as the leader of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobsen’s outstanding pro bono program since 2000. Colyer’s extensive and exemplary work focuses on immigration, LGBTQ rights, reproductive rights and criminal defense. She was honored in 2010 by Legal Aid for her work on behalf of clients applying for resentencing relief under the New York’s Drug Law Reform Act. Colyer’s tireless work on behalf of immigrants has also made her a mainstay within New York’s immigration advocacy community; most recently providing leadership and supervision to remote volunteer projects assisting clients with DACA renewals, naturalization and through Legal Aid’s Immigration Hotline.
The 2022 Honorable Jonathan Lippman New York Pro Bono Publico & Public Service Law Firm Award was presented to Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP for its exceptional pro bono commitment to Legal Aid’s organization and clients. In the past year, Kramer Levin has contributed nearly 3,000 hours of legal services to Legal Aid clients, and the firm has provided critical assistance to clients in areas as diverse as immigration defense, bankruptcy, criminal appeals, business development for low-income entrepreneurs and community justice programs, which impact hundreds of New Yorkers. Through their extraordinary pro bono commitment to Legal Aid Society’s client communities, Kramer Levin has demonstrated that the firm shares Judge Lippman’s goal of “making equal justice for all not just an ideal, but a reality.”
“We look forward to this event every year because it provides us with an opportunity to say thank you to the legal professionals who donate their time, and to highlight the amazing work of Legal Aid Society staff who work with the volunteers providing mentorship and guidance,” said Lou Sartori, Chief Counsel of the Pro Bono Practice at The Legal Aid Society.
Last year, 2,737 volunteers donated 201,460 hours of legal assistance to the clients of The Legal Aid Society. But no metrics can adequately quantify what pro bono assistance means to a family facing homelessness, a client whose rights are violated by unlawful police conduct, or a child in foster care whose educational needs are not being met. For over 140 years, The Legal Aid Society has worked together with the private bar to provide life changing legal assistance and deliver “Justice In Every Borough.”
See the full list of winners below.
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP Bill Natbony
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP Naomi Bates, Isabel Bowman, Tabitha Cohen, Aaron Francis, Victor Hou, Mijin (Jacqueline) Kang, Daniel Montgomery, Mohit Rathi, Jessica Roll, Andrew Saba, Ludivine Van der Heyden
Coalition for the Homeless Deborah Diamant
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP Sonia Batten, Jackson Dartez, Elina Khodorkovsky
Dechert LLP Samantha DeRuvo, Linda Goldstein, Jennifer Maldonado, Vishan Patel, Emily Van Tuyl
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP Yilin (Tim) Chen, Mary Eaton, Noah Lipkowitz
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP Vianka Abreu, Nicholas Adkins, Kevin Aguirre, David Akerman, Stephanie Baldelli, Basem Besada, Catherine Bushong, Jennifer Colyer, Kristin Corapi, Ashley Czechowski, Ellis Darby, Ronald Distante, Meredith Dodd, Stella Drevina, Whitney Dumeng, Simon Elkharrat, Nicole Enciso, Alicia Fitch, Maria Garay, Christina Geith, Alison Goldman, Katelyn James, Victoria Laubach, Danielle Leavy, Jenny Li, Taylor McGraw, Megan Misencik, Elizabeth Nwabueze, Vivian Ouyang, Heather Paik, Josh Rhee, Alex Schindler, Anneta Shargorodskaya, Priyanka Shivakumar, Ross Silver, Charles Stern, Irfan Tahiri, Guy Topaz
Gender Equality Law Center Allegra Fishel, Madeleine Morawski
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP Christopher Belelieu, Lee Crain, Joseph Evall, Aileen Huang, Jabari Julien, Nicholas Pulakos, Doran Satanove, Jialin Yang
Goodwin Procter LLP
Edward (Ted) Ames, Rebecca Broches, George Davis, Joshua Eisenson, Michael Fahner, Jennifer Fisher, Christopher Grobbel, Sona Karakashian, Mayan Katz, Andrew Kimball, Lisa Koo, Tina Larson, James Lathrop, Peter LaVigne, Jason Lawrence, David Li, Genna Lukshus, Simone Otenaike, Shawn Peng, Artem Skorostensky, Vanessa Torres, Samuel Weiss, Jason Yeoun
Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP William Beausoleil, Clara Cassan, Jennifer Suh
Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP D. Brandon Trice, Molly Webster
Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP David Abrams, Yarden Hodes, David Ross, Stephen Thomasch
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP Christopher Auguste, Rose Bagley, Andrew Baum, Michelle Ben-David, Jeffrey Braun, Emma Cervantes, Boaz Cohen, Rachel Czwartacky, Scott Eckl, Aaron Frankel, Arielle Warshall Katz, Karen Kennedy, Daniel Ketani, Sam Koch, Randy Kreider, Andrea Maddox, Jason Moff, Harry Morgenthau, Jamie Porco, David Richards, Robert Schmidt, Paul Schoeman, Nathan Schwartzberg, Joseph Shifer, Steven Sparling, Howard Spilko, Daniel Sugarman, Thomas Twitchell, Jennifer Weisser
Krieger Kim & Lewin LLP Katherine Cheng, Henry Ross Loeb & Loeb LLP Jerome Levine, David Nelson
Lowenstein Sandler LLP McKenzie Wilson
Milbank LLP Chassity Bobbitt, Catherine Cervone, Michael Dauber, Katherine Kelly Fell, Micaela Manley, Sean Murphy, Michael Scerbo
Patterson Belknap Webb and Tyler LLP David Dykhouse, Daniel Lowenthal
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP Amy Barton, Cristian Gonzalez, Michael S. Merrill, Pradine Saint-Fort, Ethan Stern
Proskauer Rose LLP William Dalsen, Sarah Emmerich, Michael Guggenheim, Dixie Morrison, William Silverman
Pryor Cashman LLP Jason Pachter
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP Matthew Fox, Andrew Kutscher, David LeRay, Max Meadows, Sascha Rand
Schlam Stone & Dolan LLP Michael Brodlieb
Selendy Gay Elsberg PLLC Sean Baldwin, Michael Duke, Caitlin Halligan, Babak Ghafarzade, Katya Stynes
Shearman & Sterling LLP Kit Chau, Denise Karamian
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP Susan Cordaro
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP Angela Avonce, Maria da Silva, Massiel Leiva, Colm McInerney, Jennifer Minervini, Abigail Davis Sheehan, Erika Szymanski, Julia Timerman
Starr Associates LLP Sallie Schlam Levi, Samantha Sheeber
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP James Bernard, TaLona Holbert, David Kahne, Michael Mallon, Christine Stygar
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP Philip Graham, Jr., Kolja Ortmann
White & Case LLP Morgan Brock-Smith, Gina Chiappetta, Andrew Costello, Dana Foster, Bryan Gant, Shravya Govindgari, Tripp Odom, Sylvia Precht, Hannah Rubashkin, Joshua Weedman
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP Sean Lavin, Wesley Powell, Timothy Ryan
WilmerHale Leon Kenworhty, Minahil Khan, Alan Schoenfeld
Winston & Strawn LLP Seth Spitzer, Michelle Tuma
Percival Bailey, Shane Baumgardner, Ursula Bentele, John Bryant, Lawrence Burnett, Chia-Yu Chang, Katherine Cheng, Thomas Curtis, Christopher Evans, Timothy Fleming, Andrea Green, Roger Hawke, Leah Keith, Lauren Kole, Megan Larkin, Janet Le, Sherre Levene, Frank Papalia, Mary Schuette, Bart Schwartz, Jake Walter-Warner, Stephen Weinstein