 |
October 22, 2010
NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION CELEBRATES SECOND
ANNUAL NATIONAL PRO BONO WEEK
Week-long National Celebration Pays Tribute to the
Extraordinary Contributions of Volunteer Attorneys and Offers Useful
Training Opportunities for Lawyers to Continue Doing the Public
Good
Recognizing the outstanding contributions of the scores of attorneys
who donate legal services to the public, members of the New York State
Bar Association today celebrated the Second Annual National Pro Bono
Week with a kickoff event held at the New York State Court of Appeals in
Albany. The event is part of a week-long national celebration being held
October 24-30 to honor attorneys for their commitment in volunteering to
serve those in need.
Established in 2009 by the American Bar Association (ABA), National
Pro Bono Week is a coordinated national effort to meet the ever-growing
needs of this country's most vulnerable citizens by encouraging and
supporting local efforts to expand the delivery of pro bono legal
services, to recognize the significant efforts made by attorneys who
already participate in pro bono, and to showcase the tremendous
difference that pro bono lawyers make to the nation, our system of
justice, our communities and, most of all, to the clients they
serve.
“Lawyers who volunteer their time to pro bono service are the
true heroes of our profession,” State Bar President Stephen P.
Younger of New York (Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP) told the
audience. “By answering the call to help those in need, lawyers
are making a difference in the lives of millions of Americans who are
struggling to make ends meet. National Pro Bono Week provides us with an
opportunity to not only celebrate the good that lawyers do but to also
encourage that spirit of giving back to the community that has become a
hallmark of the legal profession.
“If any one of us doubts for a second the magnitude of the
contributions made by pro bono lawyers, we need only to consider the
difference that can be made by even just one attorney,” continued
Younger, referring to a recent foreclosure case in Maine that has made
national headlines. “One lawyer, volunteering in one case, has
shed light on a repeated practice that could very well have unlawfully
deprived thousands of families the right to their most precious
investment, their home. This reinforces the simple truth that we all
know – the only way to bring light to these injustices is by
making sure that both parties in an action have a
lawyer.”
Attending the kickoff event were the Hon. Jonathan Lippman, Chief
Judge of the State of New York; Hon. George H. Lowe (United States
District Court for the Northern District of New York), State Bar
President’s Committee on Access to Justice Co-Chair; State Bar
President-Elect Vincent E. Doyle of Buffalo (Connors & Vilardo LLP);
Peter Kiernan, Counsel to Governor David A. Paterson, appearing on
behalf of the Governor; and Elena DeFio Kean, Albany County Bar
Association President. A recipient of pro bono legal services also spoke
to the audience and relayed her personal story of how The Legal Project
helped her work with her lender to obtain a loan modification and avoid
foreclosure on her home.
Last year, more than 1400 State Bar Association members donated
nearly a quarter of a million hours of free legal services in a wide
range of cases including child custody, immigration matters, bankruptcy,
mortgage foreclosures and providing assistance and counsel to victims of
mass disasters and their families. These attorneys were recognized in
January of this year as distinguished members of the State Bar’s
Empire State Counsel for each donating 50 hours or more of pro bono
services during a calendar year to the poor or to not-for-profit,
governmental and public services organizations.
Governor David A. Paterson issued a proclamation declaring October
24-30, 2010 as National Pro Bono Week in New York State. Proclamations
declaring the same in the cities of Albany, Amsterdam, Binghamton,
Cohoes, Lake George, Niagara Falls, Oswego, Saratoga Springs,
Schenectady, Troy, Utica, Yonkers and several other municipalities, also
were unveiled.
Legal services organizations, local bar associations and law schools
will be hosting a variety of events to mark National Pro Bono Week,
including free continuing legal education seminars for attorneys who
volunteer to accept a pro bono case, legal clinics where persons of
limited financial means can receive a free consultation with an attorney
volunteer in certain identified areas of law, as well as various
receptions where attorney volunteers will be recognized.
A sample of events scheduled to commemorate National Pro Bono Week in
New York includes:
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Free Bankruptcy Training for Pro Bono Lawyers – 9:00-3:00 p.m. -
Holiday Inn, Wolf Road, Albany
The Legal Project and The Legal Aid Society of Northeastern New York, in
collaboration with the Federal Bankruptcy Bar Association; The New York
State Bar Association; Albany, Schenectady, Rensselaer and Saratoga
County bar associations, are offering a free bankruptcy continuing legal
education program for lawyers in the Third, Fourth and Ninth Judicial
Districts who agree to accept two pro bono bankruptcy cases referrals
from area legal services providers during 2010-2011. Attendees
will earn 4.5 CLE credits. Contact: Siobhan Blank, sblank@albanycountybar.com;
(518) 445-7691(ext. 13) to register.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Pro Se Uncontested Divorce Clinic – 2:00-4:00 p.m. - Legal Aid
Society of Mid New York- 255 Genesee Street, 2nd Floor,
Utica
Friday, October 29, 2010
Pro Bono Training Institute – 1:00-5:00 p.m. - Dean Alexander Moot
Courtroom- Albany Law School
The training institute will feature ALS Professor Joseph Connors on
Client Interviewing; Executive Director of the Legal Aid
Society of Northeastern New York Lillian Moy on Cultural Competency; and
ALS Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Connie Mayer on Ethics in the
Context of Poverty Law. Contact: Susan Feathers, Assistant Dean for
Student Affairs, sfeat@albanylaw.edu.
To view a full listing of National Pro Bono Week events across New
York, please visit www.nysba.org/probono or
visit www.nysba.org/2010npbwcoe. To
view a listing of events taking place in various locations throughout
the nation, please visit http://www.probono.net/celebrateprobono/events/.
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. For more
information, visit us at our Web site at www.nysba.org.
####
|
News Center
