City Bar Justice Center Gala Celebrates Pro Bono

On April 1^st, the City Bar Justice Center’s 10^th Annual Gala honored WilmerHale and IBM with the 2015 City Bar Justice Awards, for their leadership and dedication to pro bono service.

The annual gala is a fundraiser vital for the Justice Center to continue its work in protecting the rights of over 20,000 New Yorkers each year who cannot afford legal assistance. Through pro bono legal representation, know-your-rights presentations, clinics targeting specific legal needs, and a free Legal Hotline, the Justice Center provides over $18 million worth of legal assistance each year. This year’s gala raised over $1 million.

Accepting the City Bar Justice Award for IBM was Edward Sebold, Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, and accepting for WilmerHale was Charles Platt, Partner-in-Charge of the New York Office.  New York City Bar Association President Debra L. Raskin and City Bar Fund Chair Mei Lin Kwan-Gett presented the awards.

Working with the Justice Center, WilmerHale’s attorneys have provided pro bono legal services to homeless families, veterans, unaccompanied minors, and victims of the 9/11 attacks, and have partnered on a multiyear effort to advocate for sensible reform of immigration laws.

IBM attorneys devoted many pro bono hours on weekends providing disaster relief assistance at neighborhood clinics following Superstorm Sandy, and have worked with the Justice Center’s Veterans Assistance Project and Immigrant Women and Children Project to obtain disability benefits for veterans and immigration relief for domestic violence and human trafficking victims.

“Partners like WilmerHale and IBM are what allow the Justice Center to carry out its work, and their pro bono contributions are instrumental in ensuring that our justice system works for everyone regardless of income,” said Lynn Kelly, Executive Director of the City Bar Justice Center.

In addition to the honorees, sponsors this year included many of New York’s leading law firms as well as companies including 21st Century Fox, AIG, American Express, Barclay’s, BNY Mellon, CBS, Citigroup, Colgate-Palmolive Company, EY, Goldman Sachs, JetBlue, JPMorgan Chase, KPMG, MetLife, Morgan Stanley, Pfizer, Thomson Reuters, Time Warner, and UBS.

View all of the supporters of the 2015 Gala here. And if you would like to join them in supporting the Justice Center’s work, please click here. For more photos, click here.

Watch the gala video on the Justice Center’s work on behalf of the homeless: