The Legal Aid Society held the 2024 Pro Bono Publico Awards Ceremony at the Prince George Ballroom on Monday, October 21st, 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 corporate legal departments 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 Public Interest Law Leadership Award was presented to Anthony Perez Cassino of Milbank LLP in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to The Legal Aid Society and its clients, as well as his leadership of Milbank’s legendary pro bono program. For over 25 years, Cassino and his colleagues at Milbank have helped litigate matters that have made a significant and lasting impact on the lives of thousands of New Yorkers.

Most recently, Cassino has assembled a team from Milbank that co-counsels a lawsuit with the Prisoners’ Rights Project and Brooklyn Defender Services against the New York City Department of Correction for its ongoing failure to provide incarcerated New Yorkers access to medical care. Last month, working with our Juvenile Rights Practice, Milbank filed a lawsuit to end the NYPD practice of illegally accessing, using, and disclosing sealed arrest-related records of youth ages 7 through 17.

Chief Judge Rowan D. Wilson & Anthony Perez Cassino

Selendy Gay PLLC also received recognition for its Outstanding Pro Bono Assistance in Safeguarding Affordable Housing In New York City. Attorneys from Selendy Gay, along with The Legal Aid Society and Legal Services NYC, helped secure a ruling in March that upholds New York’s Rent Stabilization Law, cementing decades-old protections that help to preserve affordable housing and prevent displacement and homelessness for countless individuals and families.

Garrett Ordower, an attorney with Scale LLP, was likewise honored for his pro bono work that helped secure the exoneration of Steven Ruffin, who was incarcerated after he was wrongly convicted in 1996 of manslaughter. Along with attorneys from The Legal Aid Society, Ordower’s advocacy on behalf of his client resulted in a January 2024 vacatur hearing that saw Ruffin’s conviction overturned after nearly 14 years.

Garrett Ordower (center) with the LAS leadership team

“We are incredibly grateful for the extraordinary dedication and commitment of our pro bono partners, whose unwavering support has allowed us to provide the people we serve with the zealous, thoughtful representation they need and deserve,” said Twyla Carter, Attorney-in- Chief and Chief Executive Officer of The Legal Aid Society. “The impact of these contributions cannot be understated, and we thank each and every one of our partners for the countless hours they spent fighting on behalf of low-income New Yorkers and working toward our mission of achieving justice in every borough.”

“The individuals and firms being honored tonight are some of our most valuable partners, each of whom greatly enhance Legal Aid’s ability to advocate for the members of our community who need it most,” said Lou Sartori, Chief Counsel of the Pro Bono Practice at Legal Aid. “The pro bono volunteers we are celebrating tonight have worked alongside our attorneys on numerous, critical cases that will lay the groundwork for our clients to be better protected against inequality, injustice, and discrimination of all forms. We are thrilled to be honoring these exceptional lawyers and look forward to continuing our work together in the future.”

Last year, 1,915 volunteers and interns donated 153,000 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 148 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 winning firms below.

AIG
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
Covington & Burling LLP
Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
Dechert LLP
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP
Goodwin Procter LLP
Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP
Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP
Loeb & Loeb LLP
Lowenstein Sandler LLP
Mayer Brown LLP
Meenan & Associates, LLC
Milbank LLP
O’Melveny & Myers LLP
Paul Hastings LLP
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
Petrillo Klein & Boxer LLP
Proskauer Rose LLP
Pryor Cashman LLP
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP
Schlam Stone & Dolan LLP
Selendy Gay PLLC
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Visa
Wang Hecker LLP