9/11 Victim Compensation Fund Update

The City Bar Justice Center continues to hold clinics in connection with the reopened 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund (VCF). Last week, the Justice Center held a clinic where 39 potential claimants received a free consultation from a volunteer attorney. Most of the clients at the clinics so far are former office cleaning crews and workers from the World Trade Center neighborhood with conditions that became evident after the first fund closed.

In-house corporate counsel were well represented by BNY Mellon, UBS and Barclays Capital, with many lawyers teaming up with their outside counsel to interview clients. Law firms providing pro bono services at the clinic included Fried Frank, Proskauer Rose, Crowell & Moring, Ropes & Gray, Reed Smith, Morgan Lewis, SNR Denton, Fulbright & Jaworski, Dewey LeBoeuf, Bingham McCutchen, Weil Gotshal, Winston & Strawn, Morgan Lewis and Cleary Gottlieb.

Based on feedback from the clients at the clinic, the Justice Center worked with the VCF to help organize law school spring-break clinics at Columbia and Cardozo to assist claimants who need help filing claims electronically. The pilot law school clinic at Columbia is up and running, with the Cardozo Law School clinic to take place in April. Clinic details are posted on the VCF website.

The Justice Center gives special thanks to Heidi Levine, a partner at DLA Piper who helped the Justice Center with the initial training, provides all forms and materials for the clinics, and has mobilized a terrific team of firm volunteers to staff the complex issues tables at the legal clinics and to provide legal back-up to the law student electronic filing clinics this spring.