Proskauer honored its lawyers and staff who have made significant contributions to the Firm’s pro bono and corporate social responsibility programs this year at its 12th Annual Golden Gavel Awards ceremony on January 22. The following is a list of recipients alphabetically by project.
Protecting Immigrant Youth
Team New Orleans: Catholic Charities-Archdiocese of New Orleans – Special Immigrant Juvenile Status
In collaboration with Catholic Charities-Archdiocese of New Orleans, this team successfully represented six immigrant children from Honduras and El Salvador in obtaining predicate orders from Louisiana juvenile courts finding that the children cannot be reunified with one or both of their parents due to abuse, abandonment, or neglect, and that it would not be in the children’s best interest to return to their home countries. These predicate orders open the door for these children to apply for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, an immigration remedy that would protect these children from deportation and give them a pathway to lawful permanent residence in the United States.
Malerie Bulot – New Orleans, Associate
Randall Bunnell – New Orleans, Associate
Tulio Chirinos – Boca Raton, Associate
Gillian Egan – New Orleans, Associate
Benjamin Flaxenburg – New Orleans, Associate
Rachel Gulotta – New Orleans, Associate
Kyle Hansen – New Orleans, Associate
Blair Jones – New Orleans, Senior Paralegal
Samantha Shear – New Orleans, Associate
Team Chicago: National Immigrant Justice Center – Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
Together with in-house counsel at HSBC and the National Immigrant Justice Center, these Proskauer lawyers collectively assisted 21 immigrant youths in filing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (“DACA”) renewal applications. Although the future of the DACA policy is uncertain pending the outcome of litigation currently before the United States Supreme Court, DACA was created to enable undocumented individuals who were brought to the United States as children to receive a renewable two-year period of employment authorization and deferred action from deportation.
Brooke Blackwell – Chicago, Associate
Ren Morris – Chicago, Associate
Caralyn Olie – Chicago, Associate
Steven Pearlman – Chicago, Partner
Sun-Yeong Shin – Chicago, Associate
John Stapleton – Chicago, Associate
Nigel Telman – Chicago, Partner
Edward Young – Chicago, Associate
Increasing the Impact of Nonprofit Organizations through Financial Transactions
Our team of corporate attorneys collaborated with SeaChange Capital Partners, a nonprofit merchant bank, in multiple transactions designed to amplify the impact of New York nonprofit organizations through strategic grants, loans, and investments that enable these nonprofits to sustain and increase their vital services to low-income New Yorkers.
Ron Franklin – New York, Partner
Ryan Harris – New York, Associate
Philip Kaminski – New York, Associate
Carolyn Killea – New York, Associate
Daniel Pollick – New York, Associate
Advancing Gun Safety through Impact Litigation
As co-counsel to Everytown for Gun Safety, this team of advocates has represented a group of municipalities surrounding Parkland, Florida, and one elected official from each municipality, in challenging the validity of a Florida state law that imposes substantial monetary and punitive sanctions against local officials and municipalities that propose or pass gun safety legislation that is later found to have been preempted by the Florida law. Upon cross motions for summary judgment, a Florida Circuit Court judge declared the law unconstitutional, ruling that it violated both legislative immunity and government function immunity. The case is currently on appeal to the Florida District Court of Appeal.
Michael Cardozo – New York, Partner
Chantel Febus – New York, Partner
Amanda Johnson – New York, Associate
Joseph Klock – New York, eDiscovery Project Coordinator
Kelly Landers Hawthorne – New York, Associate
Carl Mazurek – New York, Associate
Angelo Monforte – Boca Raton, Senior Paralegal
Matthew Rochman – Boca Raton, Associate
Jennifer Tarr – New York, Associate
Matthew Triggs – Boca Raton, Partner
Lucy Wolf – New York, Associate
Protecting the Rights of Deaf Probationers and Parolees
As co-counsel to the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and the Advocacy Center of Louisiana, this litigation team obtained a favorable settlement in federal litigation securing the rights of deaf and hard of hearing probationers and parolees to have qualified, certified American Sign Language interpreters at all interactions with the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections (LDPSC) that impact the freedom or sentence of an affected individual and at all classes or treatment programs required as a condition of LDPSC’s supervision.
Om Alladi – New York, Associate
Megan Cutaia – New York, Senior Paralegal
Rucha Desai – New York, Associate
Hayley Fritchie – New York, Associate
Russell Gorkin – New York, Associate
Rachel Gulotta – New Orleans, Associate
Paul Hamburger – Washington D.C., Partner
Russell Hirschhorn – New York, Partner
Blair Jones – New Orleans, Senior Paralegal
Samantha Shear – New Orleans, Associate
Supporting Educational Initiatives
Enrichment programs can provide various social and academic benefits for high-potential learners. However, students from low-income communities receive fewer opportunities for advancement than students from higher income backgrounds. Proskauer’s education programs support high achieving, motivated students from disadvantaged communities in a variety of ways: through Board Service, mentoring, workshops, classes, cultural and corporate outings and through our Adopt-a-School program. In FY19, in addition to time devoted to our board service program, 295 volunteers supported 534 students and dedicated 1,364 hours toward education initiatives.
Boston: The Minds Matter Mentors
Brianna Reed – Boston, Associate
Sarah Roberts – Boston, Manager of Legal Recruiting
Hena Vora – Boston, Associate
Chicago: Adopt-A-School Leaders
Hanna After Buffalo – Chicago, Office Coordinator
Edward Young – Chicago, Associate
Los Angeles: Adopt-a-School Leader
Elisa Carino – Los Angeles, Associate
New York: South Bronx United Mentor
Zachary Klinger – New York, Associate
Washington D.C.: Adopt-A-School Mentors
Justin Alex – Washington, D.C., Senior Counsel
Ann Ashton – Washington, D.C., Partner
Karen Garnett – Washington, D.C., Partner
James Huffman – Washington, D.C., Associate
John Ingrassia – Washington, D.C., Senior Counsel
Erica Jones – Washington, D.C., Associate
Erin Lett – Washington, D.C., Associate
Corey Rogoff – Washington, D.C., Associate
Seth Safra – Washington, D.C., Partner
Samuel Waldon – Washington, D.C., Partner
Public Service All-Stars
As all-around champions of pro bono and CSR causes, these individuals have given generously of their time and talent in supporting the Firm’s public service efforts. They have demonstrated leadership in spearheading CSR initiatives, perseverance in tackling difficult pro bono cases, and compassion in caring for the most vulnerable clients.
Alicia Abboud – New York, Associate
Andrew Bettwy – New York, Partner
Tara Brailey – New York, Associate
Regina Castela – New York, Litigation Department Coordinator
Brandon Clark – Chicago, Associate
Monique Curry – New York, Associate
Jade-Alexandra Fearns – London, Special Antitrust & Regulatory Counsel
Yomarie Habenicht – New York, Associate
Colleen Hart – Los Angeles, Partner
Lucas Kowalczyk – New York, Associate
Stéphanie Martinier – Paris, Special International Corporate Counsel
Jillian Ruben – New York, Associate
Jordan Shelton – Boston, Associate
Elizabeth (Betsy) Siegel – New York, Associate
Joshua Spector – Boston, Associate
Robert Spiro – New York, Associate