January 16, 2018 (New York) – Proskauer honored its lawyers and staff from offices across the United States who have made significant pro bono contributions this year at its tenth annual Golden Gavel Awards ceremony.

“We are proud to recognize individuals for their outstanding public service efforts,” said Bill Silverman, Proskauer’s pro bono partner. “There is a tremendous unmet need for legal services among the poor and disadvantaged.”  Bill continued, “A firm’s commitment to equal access to justice is vitally important.”

One of the highlights of this year’s ceremony was a live performance by rising hip hop artist Bruse Wane, who performed a song from the 16 Bars 4 Hip Hop, a benefit album for the Firm’s pro bono client, the Universal Hip Hop Museum, which will open its permanent home at Bronx Point. The Firm represented the Museum in drafting the artists’ contracts for the album. Tax partner David Miller and paralegal Carrie Slaton were recognized for their pro bono work for the Museum as well as dozens of other non-profits. 

A big focus of the awards event was the Firm’s immigration efforts, which expanded in 2017. Partnering with a variety of legal services organizations, more than 250 members of the Firm dedicated their time over the past year to U-Visa, T-Visa, asylum, naturalization, special immigrant juvenile status and legal permanent residency matters. At the ceremony, a handful of compelling matters involving 25 lawyers and staff were highlighted.

Over the past 28 years, the Firm’s lawyers have acted as coaches and mentors for the Francis Lewis High School’s Moot Court team. The lawyers and staff who participated in 2017 were recognized for their dedication, while students from the team joined the event to discuss the critical thinking, public speaking and leadership skills they develop from the program.

In a testament to the Firm’s rich heritage, Anthony Smith, the grandson of Joseph M. Proskauer, was featured discussing his grandfather’s commitment to public service.

At Proskauer, the commitment to pro bono and public service has been a key part of our culture for more than 140 years. Our extensive pro bono docket ranges from impact litigation cases and complex corporate transactions for nonprofit organizations to direct-services matters for individual clients. To learn more about the inspiring stories and impactful work being done by Proskauer’s lawyers and staff, please read “For Good,” our pro bono and corporate social responsibility blog, at www.proskauerforgood.com. 

The following is the complete list of Golden Gavel Award team winners, alphabetically by office:

• Boston: William Dalsen (Litigation), Maria Gaitan (Corporate), Brian Huber (Tax), Morgan Peterson (Labor & Employment)
• London: Ofei Kwafo-Akoto (Corporate)
• Los Angeles: Thomas Dollinger (Corporate)
• New York: Elke Acevedo-Amores (Private Client Services), Om Alladi (Litigation), David Bayer (Labor & Employment), Daniel Desatnik (Corporate), Melissa DiGrande (Litigation), Jesse Feldstein (Litigation), Seth Fiur (Litigation), Carl Forbes Jr. (Litigation), Magali Giddens (Corporate), Mani Kakkar (Tax), Brendan Leanos (Corporate), Margaret Lederer (Litigation), Daryn Leon (Labor & Employment), Laura McAleer (Corporate), Michael Mervis (Litigation), Erin Meyer, David Miller (Tax), Steven Obus (Litigation) Lindsey Olson (Litigation), Kamini Persaud (Real Estate), Brittany Perskin (Corporate), Penelope Pint, Matthew Rotbart (Litigation), Andrew Santimays (Corporate), Carrie Slaton (Tax), Samantha Springer (Litigation), Alexis Stone, Tiffany Woo (Litigation), Maja Zerjal (Corporate)
• Washington, D.C.: Melissa Ihnat (Litigation), John Ingrassia (Corporate), Rina Kim (Litigation)

The following is a list of Golden Gavel honorees, alphabetically by office:

• Boca Raton: Albert Gortz (Private Client Services), Lisa Markofsky (Litigation), Jurate Schwartz (Labor & Employment)
• Boston: James Anderson (Litigation), Patrick Archambault (Corporate), Alexandra Bargoot (Litigation), James Boumil (Litigation), Anna Boyle (Corporate), Charles Chen (Corporate), Zachary Cloyd (Tax), William Dalsen (Litigation), Lee Douthitt (Labor & Employment), Scott Faust (Labor & Employment), Maria Gaitan (Corporate), Matthew Geduldig (Corporate), Brian Huber (Tax), Safraz Ishmael (Litigation), Jeana Johnston (Corporate), Maria Koury (Corporate), Szeman Lam (Corporate), Kyle Litfin (Tax), Alexandria Martin (Corporate), Gregory Penoyer (Litigation), John Roberts (Litigation), Joshua Robinson (Corporate), Gourdin Sirles (Litigation), Rebecca Sivitz (Labor & Employment), Laura Stafford (Litigation), Rachel Tritter (Tax), Cheryl Xie (Corporate)
• Chicago: Monte Dube (Health Care), Steven Gilford (Litigation), Kristen Jones (Litigation), Alex Weinstein (Labor & Employment)
• Hong Kong: Vivian Ho (Corporate), Jeremy Leifer (Corporate)
• London: Ofei Kwafo-Akoto (Corporate), Kelly McMullon (Labor & Employment), Natalie Milnes (Corporate), Daniel Ornstein (Labor & Employment),
• Los Angeles: Courtney Bowman (Litigation), Travis Brashears (Corporate),Colin Cabral (Litigation), Graham Cole (Litigation), Irina Constantin (Labor & Employment), Jacquelyn Crawley (Litigation), Kelly Curtis (Litigation), Pietro Deserio (Labor & Employment), Thomas Dollinger (Corporate), Susan Goldfarb (Corporate), Talin Haroutounian (Corporate), Colleen Hart (Tax), Yoona Kim (Corporate), Nayirie Kuyumjian (Labor & Employment), Elaine Lee (Labor & Employment), Jonathan Lee (Corporate), Lisa Schlesinger (Labor & Employment), Lois Thompson (Litigation), Steven Weise (Corporate)
• New Orleans: Madeline Chimento Rea (Labor & Employment), Tulio Chirinos (Labor & Employment)
• New York: Martine Agatston (Tax), Stephen Ahron (Litigation), Om Alladi (Litigation), Julie Allen (Corporate), Julia Alonzo (Litigation), Julia Ansanelli (Litigation), Noa Baddish (Labor & Employment), Madeleine Barenholtz (Corporate), David Bayer (Labor & Employment), Brittany Benavidez (Litigation), Audrey Bender (Real Estate), Nathaniel Birdsall (Private Client Services), Allan Bloom (Labor & Employment), Larissa Boz (Labor & Employment), Edward Canter (Litigation), Michael Cardozo (Litigation), Zachary Chalett (Litigation), Ava Childers (Corporate), Alok Choksi (Corporate), Wai Choy (Corporate), Jay Cohen (Labor & Employment), Erika Collins (Labor & Employment), Peter Conrad (Labor & Employment), Abigail Cousins (Litigation), Grant Darwin (Corporate), Mark Davidson (Litigation), Adam Deitch (Litigation), Rucha Desai (Litigation), Daniel Desatnik (Corporate), Melissa DiGrande (Litigation), Trevor Dodge (Corporate), Peter Doyle (Litigation), Charles Dropkin (Corporate), Miriam Dubin (Labor & Employment), Scott Eggers (Litigation), Andrew Eiger (Corporate), Steven Einhorn (Tax), Jon English (Corporate), Erica Esposito (Corporate), Laura Fant (Labor & Employment), Zachary Fasman (Labor & Employment), Ashley Ferguson (Health Care), Seth Fier (Litigation), Seth Fiur (Litigation), Carl Forbes Jr. (Litigation), Ron Franklin (Corporate), Jacob Friedman (Tax), James Gerkis (Corporate), Pinchos Goldberg (Labor & Employment), Russell Gorkin (Litigation), John Gross (Litigation), Yonatan Grossman-Boder (Labor & Employment), Michelle Gyves (Labor & Employment), Yomarie Habenicht (Tax), Kevin Hackett (Corporate), Erin Harper (Real Estate), Ryan Harris (Corporate), Daniel Hatten (Private Client Services), Jenna Hayes (Labor & Employment), David Heck (Litigation), Jennifer Hicks (Corporate), Russell Hirschhorn (Labor & Employment), Steven Holinstat (Litigation), Brian Hooven (Litigation), Jeffrey Horwitz (Corporate), Samuel Hughes (Corporate), Steven Hurd (Labor & Employment), Jason Joffe (Corporate), Jinyoung Joo (Corporate), Robert Kafin (Corporate), Mani Kakkar (Tax), Steven Kayman (Litigation), Brandon Kinnard (Corporate), Zachary Klinger (Litigation), Arielle Kobetz (Labor & Employment), Bowon Koh (Tax), Russell Kostelak (Litigation), Nicole Kramer (Corporate), Anna Kreimerzak (Corporate), Francis Landrey (Litigation), Jordan Leader (Litigation), Daryl Leon (Labor & Employment), Elizabeth Spector Louden (Labor & Employment), Gwen Lourie (Labor & Employment), Jason Madden (Health Care), Lukas Mansour (Corporate), Laura McAleer (Corporate), Erin Meyer, David Miller (Tax), Lara Miller (Corporate), David Mordkoff (Litigation), Chad Morin (Corporate), Danielle Moss (Labor & Employment), Harris Mufson (Labor & Employment), Tara Mulrooney (Real Estate), David Munkittrick (Litigation), Sarah Nasser (Corporate), Mariya Nazginova (Labor & Employment), Daniel Nelson (Corporate), Andrew Nightingale (Corporate), Amanda Nussbaum (Tax), Steven Obus (Litigation), Lindsey Olson (Litigation), Michael Orenstein (Corporate), Brendan O’Rourke (Litigation), Corinne Osborn (Labor & Employment), Evelyn Pang (Litigation), Nirali Parikh (Corporate), Massiel Pedreira (Litigation), Nicholas Pellegrino (Corporate), Charles Perez (Corporate), Brittany Perskin (Corporate), Rachel Peyser (Corporate), Charlotte Phelps (Corporate), David Picon (Litigation), Bettina Plevan (Labor & Employment), Tiffany Quach (Corporate), Kramer Rice (Labor & Employment), Lauren Richburg (Corporate), Elizabeth Rosen (Health Care), Matthew Rotbart (Litigation), Stephen Rubin (Corporate), Bradley Ruskin (Corporate), Christopher Ryder (Corporate), Peter Samuels (Corporate), Andrew Santimays (Corporate), Brett Schwab (Labor & Employment), Kathleen Semanski (Tax), Ronald Sernau (Real Estate), William Silverman (Litigation), David Simon (Corporate), Alexandra Skellet (Litigation), Danielle Skolnik (Real Estate), Andrew Smith (Labor & Employment), Sean Spence (Corporate), Samantha Springer (Litigation), Divya Taneja (Corporate), Fabio Tarud (Litigation), Pengtao Teng (Corporate), Paresh Trivedi (Corporate), Adam Waks (Corporate), Jeffrey Warshafsky (Litigation), Krista White (Health Care), Mara Wilber (Health Care), Amy Williams (Real Estate), Tiffany Woo (Litigation), Jennifer Yang (Litigation), Jared Zajac (Corporate), Richard Zall (Health Care), Amy Zelcer (Tax), Maja Zerjal (Corporate), David Zurndorfer (Labor & Employment)
• Newark: Dana Berber (Labor & Employment), Alychia Lynn Buchan (Labor & Employment), David Grunblatt (Labor & Employment), Marissa Mastroianni (Labor & Employment), Hillary Odza (Labor & Employment), Brianna Pomatico (Labor & Employment), Steven Sutro (Labor & Employment)
• Paris: Mathieu Brule (Labor & Employment), Geoffrey Roche (Labor & Employment), Doriane Shannon (Corporate)
• Washington, D.C.: Emilie Adams (Labor & Employment), Guy Brenner (Labor & Employment), Melissa Ihnat (Litigation), Rina Kim (Litigation), Damian Myers (Labor & Employment)