Milbank Celebrates Pro Bono Highlights at 31st Annual Pro Bono Awards

Milbank LLP honored the individuals who made extraordinary pro bono contributions in the past year at our 31st Annual Pro Bono Awards on July 26, 2023, at our Hudson Yards office. Pro Bono Counsel Anthony Perez Cassino, Deputy Pro Bono Counsel Rebecca Heller and Milbank Chairman Scott A. Edelman hosted the awards ceremony. Milbank attorneys, summer associates and business services professionals attended the hybrid event, which was broadcast to multiple offices virtually.

Lawyers were recognized for a wide range of pro bono achievements, such as addressing police accountability issues, working on asylum matters, supporting international policy initiatives, and advocating for civil rights, anti-discrimination and debt relief. The program also recognized an Honor Roll of over 100 lawyers and legal assistants who contributed 100 or more pro bono hours over the past year.

In 2022, the firm provided more than 59,000 pro bono hours worldwide, with 86% of Milbank’s US attorneys reaching the 20-hour level. In the United States, our lawyers contributed an average of 75 hours per lawyer. Milbank also recently rose in the ranks of The American Lawyer 2023 Pro Bono Scorecard, which grades the top 200 US law firms based on pro bono hours contributed and breadth of commitment; the firm was ranked 17th in this year’s list. Milbank also rose to 10th place in the “breadth of commitment” category, which is based on the percentage of US lawyers with more than 20 hours of pro bono service.

In his introductory remarks, Mr. Edelman discussed the trajectory of Milbank’s pro bono work. “In the many years since we started this awards ceremony, Milbank has dedicated over a million hours to over 4,500 pro bono cases,” he said. “While our longstanding commitment to public service is evident, global and national conflicts have certainly tested our pro bono capabilities in the past few years. On top of a global pandemic, which was especially devastating to low-income individuals, our country had a renewed focus on addressing bias in our policing and criminal justice system and faced an ongoing crisis in our immigration system. But our lawyers have responded to each of these challenges with hard work and dedication.”

Mr. Cassino presented personalized awards to the honorees for their accomplishments. The past year’s notable highlights include:

• A settlement in a racial discrimination lawsuit brought by Milbank and LatinoJustice PRLDEF on behalf of 21 Latinos living and working in Suffolk County, Long Island alleging that the Suffolk County Police Department allowed officers to repeatedly stop and harass Latino people in the county. Under the settlement, the police department will establish precinct-level advisory boards and work with a third-party provider to update its implicit bias training. The county defendants also agreed to pay $2.25 million in attorneys’ fees. Team: Scott A. Edelman, Katherine Kelly Fell, Mark Villaverde, Alex Cogut, Phil Gasperetti, Bradley Hershon, Samantha Lovin, Lacey Reimer and Morgan Williams
• An amicus brief filed by a Milbank pro bono team that was cited by the California Appellate Court when it ruled that the towing of lawfully parked vehicles without a warrant is not permissible. Team: Mark Shinderman and Mohammad Tehrani
• A successful representation of a pro bono client who was a victim of deed theft, obtaining a default judgment in her quiet title action. The client, a Bronx County resident in her mid-70s, had owned her home for nearly 50 years since purchasing it with her late husband in 1974. In 2020, a real estate developer contacted her claiming that it had recently purchased the side yard on her property, but an investigation of public records revealed that the client’s side yard had been “sold” in 2008 to a third party as part of a broader criminal mortgage fraud scheme that had resulted in multiple convictions. Team: Joseph Kammerman and Alexander Lees
• A partnership with pro bono law firm Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG) to support crucial policy development regarding Russia's war in Ukraine. Over several months, the Milbank team was actively engaged in PILPG working groups focused on Ukraine, contributing white papers, conducting expert case study interviews and preparing memoranda. Team: Henry Scott, John Beahn, Liam Bowers, Maria Bun, Ari Gilberg, Cleopatra Gray, Travis Haltom, Jin Jeon, Justin Le, Catherine Matuska, Jeffrey Turben and Edward McCartney
• Helping a pro bono client become a naturalized US citizen, marking the triumphant conclusion to a nearly decade-long battle. Milbank and the nonprofit Tahirih Justice Center had previously secured asylum and permanent residence status for the client and her children in 2014, when she fled a physically and emotionally abusive arranged marriage in Egypt and arrived in Virginia. Team: Andrew Leblanc, Julie Wolf and Truman Whitney
• Advising on the nonprofit merger of Youth Movement Against Alzheimer’s. Team: Andrew Yu and Henry Scott
• Securing a conditional pardon from the Commonwealth of Virginia for a pro bono client who was sentenced as a juvenile to more than three multiple life sentences. Team: Aaron L. Renenger and associates John Estep, Riah Kim and Rebecca Olson
• Helping discharge student loan debt for a mother caring for her disabled son. Team: Abhilash Raval, Edward Linden, James McIntyre, Curtis Smith, Jonathan Lamberti and Mike Frieda
• Providing probate advice to a pro bono client. Team: Austin Bramwell, Amy Albert and Sean Imfeld
• Advising on a lease negotiation for the People’s Theatre Project Performing Arts Center. Team: Yaakov Sheinfeld, Liam O’Connor, Bailey Vincent and Brenda Rosenfeld
• Advising on a lease negotiation for the Hunters Point Parks Conservancy Boathouse. Team: Erwin Dweck, Julianne Guzman and Meir Lax
• Successfully challenging a New York City Housing Authority policy regarding people with disabilities. Team: Jed Schwartz and Rachel Wolf
• Securing a favorable outcome for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in its lawsuit against the State University of New York at Stony Brook concerning access to records related to the school’s experimentation on animals. Team: Stacey Rappaport, Jonathan Lamberti and Philip Flowers