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