As we recognize Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, I recently sat down with our friend Wayne Ho, CEO of the Chinese-American Planning Council (“CPC”), to learn more about the community issues the nation’s largest Asian American social service organization is working to address.  Since 2021, Proskauer has partnered with the CPC to host several educational workshop series with CPC teens, centering on social justice and academic enrichment. Proskauer employees volunteer as mentors on a regular basis, through programs like those sponsored by the CPC, imparting their expertise beyond the law to inform and inspire students to succeed in college, their careers and other aspects of their lives.

Developing climate solutions requires an all-hands on deck approach that leverages partnership across the public and private sectors as well as the philanthropic community as we face this defining issue of our time. Leaders from all three of these sectors gathered at Proskauer’s New York headquarters for a special Earth Day panel discussion on climate change that explored some of the strides being made toward climate change mitigation objectives.

Proskauer and co-counsel Disability Rights Advocates (“DRA”), a nationwide nonprofit disability rights legal center, triumphed in a Chicago court this month, obtaining a ruling that will lead to historic accessibility improvements for the more than 65,000 people with vision difficulties who live in Chicago. The Court granted summary judgment on claims that the City of Chicago discriminated against blind and low vision pedestrians under federal disability rights laws by failing to install accessible pedestrian signals (APS) at signalized intersections.  American Council of the Blind of Metropolitan Chicago, et al. v. City of Chicago, No. 1:19-cv-06322 (N.D. Ill.). 

Last week, Proskauer was honored to host a summit in its New York office, led by United States Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, on efforts to ensure public safety and economic opportunities for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. The event, moderated by Frank Wu, the president of Queens College, brought together over 50 business, academic and community leaders, including the presidents of the Ford Foundation, Fordham University, Teachers College (Columbia University), Baruch College and the Asian American Business Development Center. The discussion focused on ways to battle anti-Asian xenophobia and racism and offered ideas to build capacity and investment in AAPI communities through federal policies and action.

For the past five months, Proskauer has acted as pro bono counsel to Instituto Recicleiros (Recicleiros), a Brazilian non-profit, in obtaining a grant from the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW). AEPW is an industry-founded non-profit dedicated to funding projects to reduce, and ultimately end, plastic waste.

Brazil has long struggled to properly manage solid waste, as many cities do not provide for proper collection, treatment and disposal of solid waste. This deficiency has resulted in the proliferation of informal dump sites (lixões) that generate public health and environmental hazards. The recent enactment of Brazil’s National Policy for Solid Waste Management requires private companies to comply with recycling requirements and integrate the use of recycled materials into their production processes. Other regulations stipulate that municipalities must ensure that there are proper disposal options, including the recycling of solid materials.

Veteran affairs is a key focus area of our corporate social responsibility and pro bono work, and since 2018, Proskauer has been a proud sponsor of American Corporate Partners (ACP). Through ACP, our talented employees mentor veterans and military spouses with career guidance as they transition from the military to civilian life. On Wednesday, May 25th we met virtually with nearly 100 ACP mentees and alumni. Karen Carbone, Proskauer’s Director of Human Resources and Mark Bunbury, our Associate Director of Diversity & Inclusion led an impactful workshop on resume writing and interview preparation. They shared tips for virtual interviews which exploded during the pandemic and are likely here to stay, as well as best practices for resume writing. Combined, Mark and Karen have decades of experience in human resources across the legal and banking industries. The executives from ACP, who organized the webinar with us, include Richard Comitz, Senior Vice President and Matthew Peirce, Operations Associate.