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Free: Kaye Scholer Deferred Lawyers to Work on Pro Bono at Firm
Friday, October 30, 2009
Kaye Scholer plans to split up its incoming first-year deferred associates, with half working on pro bono work for a reduced salary. The 500-lawyer firm had already delayed start dates for its 40 incoming associates to January. Now, 20 of the new lawyers will work in its pro bono program at the firm for a $60,000 salary, managing partner Barry Willner said yesterday.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT
Pro Bono at the Crossroads
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Kevin J. Curnin, a partner and the director of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan's Public Service Project, writes: Today, the law's impact on how we live and die is omnipresent. Health care reform, climate control accords and market regulation are the dominant examples, but there are others, less dramatic but no less deeply impactful: housing, bankruptcy, benefits, immigration, disability. The imbalance between "the haves and the have-nots" is with us now more than ever. Pro bono lawyers, at least part of the time, align with the "have-nots," the uneducated, the marginalized, the unprotected.
Free: Accolades
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Lawyers Alliance for New York is set to honor Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker and Seyfarth Shaw as well as eight individual attorneys with 2009 Cornerstone Awards this evening at the Pfizer Conference Center on East 42nd Street. The award recognizes pro bono legal aid to nonprofit groups working to improve low-income neighborhoods in New York City.
Deferred Associates 'Hit the Ground Running' at Non-Profits, D.A.'s Offices
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Had the economy not gone into a tail spin, Christopher Reid would likely be elbow-deep in research for discovery in a patent lawsuit at Ropes & Gray. Instead, Ropes & Gray announced in March that it was delaying start dates for new associates and those who chose to could work at non-profit agencies for a $60,000 stipend. Mr. Reid said he was initially "freaked out" but later decided the non-profit work might pull him out of his research comfort zone by forcing him into court with clients. "I thought it was good to do something that wasn't natural to me so I'd learn the most," said Mr. Reid, who said he is working on housing cases in Brooklyn for the Legal Aid Society.
The Good We Do: Access to Justice
Monday, October 26, 2009
Michael E. Getnick, the president of the New York State Bar Association, writes: Increased need and diminished funding brought about, in part, by the economic downturn will translate into the denial of legal representation for millions of poor people this year alone. Hundreds of thousands of those people are New Yorkers. And these numbers reflect only those who have sought legal services. Many never ask for help. Millions of people simply try to represent themselves. Together with bar associations and good government groups all across the country working to shore up funding for civil legal services, thousands of attorneys in towns and cities all across New York and our nation are doing their part to narrow the justice gap by providing pro bono service.
Citing Withheld Evidence, Judge Orders Third Trial in 1977 Slaying
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Exculpatory evidence unearthed by pro bono attorneys that was not turned over at trial to a defendant convicted of a 1977 murder has persuaded a judge to reopen the case. Acting Dutchess County Court Judge James T. Rooney granted defendant Dewey Bozella's motion to set aside his conviction and ordered a new trial in the killing of 92-year-old Emma Crapser as she returned to her Poughkeepsie home after a night of bingo. WilmerHale senior associate Ross E. Firsenbaum, partners Peter Macdonald and John Hintz and associate Shauna Friedman worked on the case, logging an estimated 2,500 hours worth $950,000 at customary rates on the Bozella case since it took the matter over late in 2007.
Court System to Host Pro Bono Expo on Thursday
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Attorneys interested in learning about the state court system's pro bono programs are invited to an expo on Thursday from 5-7 p.m. hosted by the Access to Justice Program of the New York State Courts.
Free: Lawyer Epiphanies
Friday, October 16, 2009
William J. Dean, executive director of Volunteers of Legal Service, writes: Through recent interviews with lawyers, both partners and associates, undertaken in connection with the 25th anniversary of Volunteers of Legal Service, I have come to appreciate the epiphanies lawyers experience from their pro bono work, the most important being immense personal and professional satisfaction and a deepening awareness of the vicissitudes and courage of poor people.
The Power of Judges To Encourage Pro Bono
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Stephen M. Hudspeth, clinical lecturer at Yale Law School and a lecturer and Becton Fellow at Yale Graduate School of Management, writes: "Encouraging attorneys to do pro bono work is a perennial subject at law firms and among the bar. I know firsthand because for the last dozen years before my retirement five years ago from a large international law firm, I chaired its pro bono committee and had the opportunity to work on a number of pro bono cases myself."
Outreach Program Works to Introduce Minority Youths to Careers in Law
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Twenty-five years ago, Harvard Law graduate James O'Neal decided to help young, underprivileged students grow up to be lawyers. Today, the resulting program, Legal Outreach, operates multiple programs throughout the New York City metro area, working with 40 law firms which host mentoring sessions and internships for 13- and 14-year-old students.
Stroock Brief Challenges Distribution Of Bibles to Missouri School Children
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan and Davis, Wright & Tremaine jumped headlong into the issue of religion in schools when they filed amicus briefs for clients seeking to ban the distribution of Bibles in a Missouri elementary school.
Federal Judge Rules Immigration Detainee Must Have Bond Hearing
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
A Jamaican man who has spent the past 5 1/2 years in immigration detention facilities while fighting deportation must have a bond hearing within 60 days, a federal judge in Buffalo has ordered. With the help of the ACLU, the New York Civil Liberties Union and two pro bono attorneys from Seyfarth Shaw, the man sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the grounds that his detention without a hearing violates the Immigration and Nationality Act and the right to due process.
Free: Failure to Supervise Pro Bono Attorney Dooms Divorce Pact
Thursday, June 18, 2009
In granting a woman's bid to void a settlement stipulation because her pro bono divorce attorney made serious errors and was inadequately supervised, a state judge has cautioned law firms and volunteer groups that in taking on pro bono cases, they should ensure that counsel "receive appropriate support and supervision, so that they can provide pro bono clients with the same careful legal representation that they provide to paying clients." The ruling comes at a time when law firms facing a decline in legal business and a surplus of attorneys are working with pro bono organizations to increase the number of cases they already handle on a volunteer basis.
Free: Accolades
Monday, June 15, 2009
Tonight at its 10th anniversary program, The Burton Foundation, a nonprofit academic organization, will present its 2009 Awards for Legal Achievement in recognition of effective legal writing. The event will be held at the Library of Congress. The Lifetime Reform in Law award will be presented to former New York Chief Judge Judith Kaye.
Attorney Volunteer Effort Meets in Bronx Tonight
Monday, June 8, 2009
NYC Legal Outreach will hold its second meeting tonight to recruit attorneys to provide pro bono representation for the growing number of unrepresented consumers with financial and immigration problems.
Accolades
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Bentley Kassal, litigation counsel at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, will be inducted as a Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honor, the highest decoration given by the French Republic, for his role as a former U.S. Army Air Force intelligence officer in the liberation of France during World War II. Also, the New York City Bar Association has presented its Fourth Annual Diversity Champion Awards, the American Jewish Committee has its Judge Learned Hand Award for outstanding service to the legal profession, the Lawyers Alliance for New York has awarded three institutions for being "outstanding partners in public service," and more.
NYU Law Graduates Pursue The Public Interest - Tuition Debt-Free
Thursday, May 28, 2009
It is one thing to express concern for the plight of migrant farm workers. It's another to live and toil alongside them and attempt to fully understand the challenges they face, as Thomas Fritzsche has done as a medical translator, a pesticide safety trainer and a farm union organizer. The 28-year-old, who graduated from New York University School of Law on May 15, plans to use his degree to continue pushing for the rights of migrant workers at the Southern Poverty Law Center's Immigrant Justice Project, but he will not have to worry about paying off a crushing law school loan debt on a public interest salary. Dallas litigation boutique Bickel & Brewer, which has been advocating for low-income clients and the Latino community for more than two decades, paid for his legal education.
Free: City, Courts Kick Off Campaign to Encourage Lawyers to Volunteer
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
The first of five meetings to recruit, motivate and inform attorneys for the new NYC Legal Outreach initiative will be held tonight in Brooklyn. The campaign is an "unprecedented" joint effort by the judicial and executive branches to expand pro bono legal assistance, Corporation Counsel Michael A. Cardozo said in an interview. The joint program is an attempt to address the growing number of unrepresented consumers with financial and immigration problems brought on by the weak economy.
Free With Registration: Obituary: Brooks R. Burdette
Friday, May 22, 2009
Brooks R. Burdette, a litigation partner at Schulte Roth & Zabel, died on May 13. He was 47. Mr. Burdette began his legal career as an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. In 1993, he joined Schulte Roth & Zabel and was made partner in 1996.
