The Legal Aid Society held its 145th Annual Meeting on Wednesday, December 15, 2021, where staff were recognized for their service and dedication to the organization and its clients.

The Orison S. Marden Awards were created in 1976 during Legal Aid’s centennial year to recognize the excellence of the staff and to honor the memory of Mr. Marden, a partner at White & Case who served as a Director and Chairman for many years.

The Core Staff Marden Award was presented to Johari Commodore, Paralegal 2 Specialist Rikers, Criminal Defense Practice,  Katharine Hussung, Support Staff, Juvenile Rights Practice, and Anna Vaysleyb, Paralegal Casehandler, Civil Practice.

The Staff Attorney Marden Award was presented to David Crow, Staff Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice, Ellen Davidson, Staff Attorney, Civil Practice, and Hannah Kaplan, Staff Attorney, Juvenile Rights Practice

The Manager Marden Award was presented to Kenneth Ansley, Office Manager, Civil Practice, Jerome Greco, Digital Forensics Supervising Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice, and Jaimen Weddle, Interim Attorney-in-Charge, Juvenile Rights Practice.

The Sandra Scott Memorial Award honors the memory of our beloved Chief Financial Officer who lost her battle with cancer in 2016. Joshua Perez, Desktop Support Manager, was presented with this year’s award.

Watch the acceptable speeches below.

Members of the staff who are celebrating their 25th, 30th, 35th, 40th, 45th and 50th anniversaries with The Legal Aid Society were also honored:

50 Years
Wendy Remy and Howard Turman

45 Years
Jo-Ann Hassan

40 Years
Zoraida Lopez, Lorraine Maddalo, John Needham, Michael Pineiro , Dawn Ryan, Jennifer Valentin, Jerry Washington, and Steven Wasserman

35 Years
Mitchell Briskey, Jeffrey Dellheim, Amy Donner, Martin Feinman, Elizabeth Felber, Steven Godeski, Chandra Gomes, Lester Helfman, Lois Jackson, Sharon Lowe, James McQueeney, Ellen Sacks, and Gloria Sanders

30 Years
Jose Ayala, Michelle Benoit, Precious Boyd, William Carney, Natalya Dolub, Nancy Ginsburg, Adriene Holder, Susan Horwitz, Nadine Johnson, Mihea Kim, Marianna Lowenfeld, Tatyana Mints, S. Maquita Moody , Michael Murray, Niamh O’Flaherty, Karen Ottenstein, Veronica Pauline Quinones, Judith Stern, Alice Swenson, Marlene Vasquez, and Frank Witty

25 Years
Chennette Barreto, Christine Bella, Heidi Bota, Susan Chase, Vanessa Cherena, Emily Cohen, Edgar Davila, Jason De Jesus, Kisha Douglas, Japel Filiaci, Vera Mae Fletcher, Oda Friedheim, Natasha Ingram, Daniella Korotzer, Laura Lieberman-Cohen, Alexandra Matta, Dawne Mitchell, Lorca Morello, Stephen Myers, Jasmine Ramirez-Burgos, Alex Reznik, Jennifer Ritter, Ricardo Rivera, Theodora Saal, John Schoeffel, Todd Smith, Taramanie Sukhu, Louis Varela, Pedro Vega, Edlyn Willer, and Andrei Ziabkin.