May 3, 2010
STATE BAR ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES 2010
PRESIDENT’S PRO BONO SERVICE AWARD WINNERS
Annual awards honor lawyers, law firms and law
students who provided free legal services to the poor
ALBANY— A law firm that helped the families of victims killed
in last year’s tragedy at the American Civic Association in
Binghamton, a 91-year old lawyer who came out of retirement so she could
help owners at risk of losing their homes, and a solo practitioner who
donated more than 100 hours of free legal assistance to individuals
facing bankruptcy in the wake of the recession are among the 20 winners
of the New York State Bar Association’s 2010 President’s Pro
Bono Service Awards.
The State Bar presented the annual service awards at a Law Day
luncheon today at the State Bar Center in Albany. State Bar President
Michael E. Getnick (Getnick Livingston Atkinson & Priore, LLP of
Utica and of counsel to Getnick & Getnick of New York City) and
President-elect Stephen P. Younger of New York (Patterson Belknap Webb
& Tyler LLP) presided at this year’s ceremony. Younger and
Hon. George Lowe of Syracuse co-chair the President’s Committee on
Access to Justice.
“Pro bono service is at the heart of why so many of us became
lawyers—to help our most vulnerable citizens in difficult times.
Every day, thousands of attorneys across New York provide free legal
assistance to those in desperate need but unable to pay. Today we
recognize those attorneys, firms and law students whose extraordinary
efforts are tremendous examples for all of us,” said President
Getnick. “It is a great privilege for me to recognize their
outstanding contributions in meeting the State Bar’s goal of
ensuring equal access to justice for everyone. I congratulate all the
honorees. They represent the very best in our profession.”
In addition to honoring attorneys representing all 13 of New
York’s judicial districts, the awards are given to a young lawyer
practicing law for less than 10 years or under the age of 36, a large
law firm, a small/mid-size law firm, a law student and a law school
group.
The winners are:
Anne S. Raish (1st Judicial District: Manhattan)
– Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, New York.
Donating thousands of pro bono hours over a six-year period, Raish
served as the lead attorney in the five-week trial of Disability
Advocates, Inc. v. Paterson, an Americans with Disabilities Act
discrimination claim made on behalf of more than 4,300 persons with
mental illnesses institutionalized in New York City adult homes. In
September 2009, the federal district court ruled that New York State had
discriminated against these plaintiffs and that they had the right,
under law, to live in more integrated, community-based settings.
Christopher Rio (2nd Judicial District: Kings
County) – Law Office of Frank J. Rio, Brooklyn. Soon after
graduating from law school in 2008, Rio began volunteering legal
assistance in bankruptcy and elder law matters through the Brooklyn Bar
Association Volunteer Lawyers Project. Within the past year, he took on
five settlement conference cases for homeowners facing foreclosure, as
well as several emergency cases.
Daniel J. Hurteau (3rd Judicial District: Albany,
Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Schoharie, Sullivan, Ulster counties)
– Nixon Peabody LLP, Albany. Hurteau personally donated more than
184 hours of pro bono service on behalf of 17 clients on matters ranging
from child custody cases for prison inmate parents to elder abuse
issues. As the Pro Bono Committee member of Nixon Peabody LLP’s
Albany office, he oversaw an effort that resulted in a nearly 100% pro
bono participation rate by the office’s attorneys.
Emily Muller (4th Judicial District: Clinton, Essex,
Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Montgomery, St. Lawrence, Saratoga,
Schenectady, Warren, Washington counties) – Saratoga. A solo
practitioner with a busy family law practice, Muller provided 63 hours
of pro bono services with a focus on contested divorce proceedings and
child support cases.
David Hayes (5th Judicial District: Herkimer,
Jefferson, Lewis, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego counties) – Bond,
Schoeneck & King PLLC, Syracuse. A member of the State Bar’s
Executive Committee, Hayes is the immediate past president and a current
board member of Legal Services of Central New York, Inc. and the Legal
Aid Society of Mid-New York. Hayes also gives his time to the Volunteer
Lawyer Project of the Onondaga County Bar Association where he assists
individuals interested in establishing not-for-profit charitable
organizations to help the community’s indigent; represents tenants
through difficult eviction proceedings; and participates in the
“Talk to a Lawyer” walk-in program.
Peter A. Orville (6th Judicial District: Broome,
Chemung, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Madison, Otsego, Schuyler, Tioga,
Tompkins counties) – Law Offices of Peter A. Orville, Binghamton.
Even though the demands of his solo bankruptcy practice are greater than
ever, Orville has maintained his 20-year commitment to pro bono work by
volunteering at Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York, Inc.’s Consumer
Clinics. In 2009 alone, he provided free counsel on bankruptcy matters
to 22 Legal Aid clients.
David H. Tennant (7th Judicial District: Cayuga,
Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne, Yates counties)
– Nixon Peabody LLP, Rochester. In 2009, Tennant provided 198
hours of free legal assistance, while helping manage his firm’s
pro bono program in its Rochester office. Among his services, Tennant
advised families of victims who died in the American Civic Association
mass shooting on immigration issues, advocated on behalf of these
families in discussions with federal and foreign officials, and met with
emergency management officials to help coordinate the delivery of legal
services to the families.
Catherine E. Nagel (8th Judicial District: Allegany,
Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Niagara, Orleans, Wyoming
counties) – Nuchereno & Nagel, Buffalo. In 2009, Nagel
performed more than 90 hours of pro bono work through the Erie County
Bar Association Volunteers Lawyers Project on matters involving divorce
and estate planning. Of that total, Nagel donated 25 hours alone
to a family who lost their father in the Flight 2307 plane crash near
Buffalo, helping them with custody arrangements and a complicated estate
plan.
Guy Fairstein (9th Judicial District: Dutchess,
Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Westchester counties) – White Plains.
Fairstein donated more than 100 hours of pro bono services to recession
ravaged clients facing wage garnishment and frozen bank accounts. His
actions allowed them to pay for basic items such as food and
shelter.
Stuart Gelberg (10th Judicial District: Nassau,
Suffolk counties) – Stuart P. Gelberg, Esq., Garden City. A
volunteer with the Pro Bono Project’s bimonthly Bankruptcy
Clinics, Gelberg donated more than 226 hours in 131 bankruptcy cases
since joining in September 2002. He was named the project’s Pro
Bono Attorney of the Month in November 2009.
Hilary Gingold (11th Judicial District: Queens
County) – North Woodmere. A volunteer with the Queens Volunteer
Lawyers Project, Inc., Gingold participated in 14 pro bono foreclosure
settlement conferences since the summer of 2009, donating 50 hours of
legal assistance to homeowners in the process. In addition, she has
mentored other legal volunteers and participated in training
seminars.
Michael S. Davi (12th Judicial District: Bronx
County) – Vinson & Elkins LLP, New York. Davi has provided pro
bono representation for seven InMotion clients, including four Bronx
residents, handling a total of 12 matters, from the end of 2005 to date.
He has assisted clients in custody, visitation and child support
proceedings in Family Court, as well as in contested divorce cases.
Serena M. Stonick (13th Judicial District: Staten
Island) – Lahr Dillon Manzulli Kelley & Penett, P.C., Staten
Island. Stonick provided free legal assistance on a number of real
estate matters through Staten Island Legal Services. While volunteering,
she successfully resolved a series of complex foreclosure cases and
drafted settlement agreements that kept owners from losing their
homes.
Hagit Elul (Young Lawyer) – Hughes Hubbard
& Reed LLP, New York. In 2009, Elul provided 247 hours of free legal
assistance to those in need. During this time, she successfully argued
two pro bono appeals before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals,
including a wrongful deportation case and representing a plaintiff in a
class action suit challenging a discriminatory practice of the City of
New York.
Shirley Adelson Siegel (Senior Lawyer), New York. In
late 2008, at 91 years young, Siegel came out of retirement and joined
the Lawyers’ Foreclosure Intervention Network (LFIN). In 2009, she
donated more than 400 hours in pro bono services through the LFIN. She
is currently working on three foreclosure cases and has made 19
appearances in court in 2009.
Gary B. Cohen (In-House Counsel) – Xerox
Corporation, Rochester. Through a 15-year association with the
Volunteer Legal Services Project of Monroe County, Inc. (VLSP), Cohen
has donated a wide variety of legal services involving contested family
law matters, domestic violence, and child custody matters. In addition,
Cohen is a skilled grant writer whose work has allowed the VLSP to fund
a number of initiatives including an expansion of Nikki’s Legal
Hope Clinic for victims of domestic violence at Rochester’s
Alternatives for Battered Women; a new staff attorney position at VLSP
for non-parent custody cases; a Certificate of Relief from Disability
Re-entry program and a Micro-Enterprises Program that provides business
start-up help for low-income entrepreneurs.
Ryan Shannon (Law Student), University of Richmond,
native of Brockport. As a summer associate with the Law Students in
Action Project, Shannon performed 321 hours of pro bono service
involving 133 clients, well above the project’s associate
volunteer average of 50 clients. Shannon also developed legal need
assessment tools that will be used by the frontline workers of the
Emergency Services and Family Stabilization Network. The network is an
organized group of emergency service providers who collaboratively
respond to the needs of families and individuals in the community who
are in or are at risk of crisis.
Levene Gouldin & Thompson, LLP (Small &
Mid-Size Law Firms), Binghamton. Attorneys Maria Lisi-Murray, Heather
Cornell and Kathryn Grant Madigan, past president of the New York State
Bar Association, were cited for their outstanding service in the wake of
the American Civic Association shootings. Lisi-Murray served as the
on-site coordinator for the State Bar’s Committee on Mass Disaster
Response and assisted finding language translators so victims’
families overseas could make travel arrangements to the U.S. and help
repatriate the deceased. Madigan worked with two young children whose
parents were killed, providing vital assistance in retrieving their
parents’ personal effects, securing guardianship on their behalf,
helping them get appropriate government benefits and assisting the
children’s relatives seek asylum in America. Cornell drafted
trusts for victims’ children and coordinated efforts to ensure
that contributions on behalf of the orphaned were properly managed.
Hiscock & Barclay, LLP (Large Law Firm) –
Syracuse. The 200-attorney firm was recognized for their pro bono work
with the Say Yes to Education Program in the Syracuse City School
District. The firm regularly visits local elementary schools, providing
26 weeks of onsite clinic hours that are open to any person who has a
child enrolled in the district. Attorneys and paralegals are able to
give advice and referrals on legal matters that can interfere with their
child’s ability to succeed in school.
Suspension Representation Project (SRP) (Law School
Group), New York University School of Law, New York. The SRP is an
advocacy group that trains law students to represent public school
students in New York City Board of Education superintendent’s
suspension hearings. In the past academic year, SRP represented
low-income students in all five boroughs at nearly 50 hearings thereby
safeguarding their right to a fair hearing and protecting their access
to public education.
Founded in 1876, the 77,000-member New York State Bar Association is
the official statewide organization of lawyers in New York and the
largest voluntary state bar association in the nation. The State
Bar’s programs and activities have continuously served the public
and improved the justice system for more than 130 years.
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