Congratulations to Our 2020 Outstanding Pro Bono Service Awardees

In observance of the American Bar Association’s National Celebration of Pro Bono this year, on Monday, October 26^th, the City Bar Justice Center held a virtual gathering to celebrate our 2020 Outstanding Pro Bono Service Awardees. This celebration marked a significant moment as the City Bar Justice Center and leaders of the New York City Bar Association commemorated the tremendous response of ten volunteer attorneys from each of our civil justice projects who rose to meet the challenges of 2020.

Our honorees demonstrated an unwavering commitment to supporting disadvantaged New Yorkers, particularly in times of crisis. During the pandemic, award recipients stepped up without hesitation to help COVID19-affected small businesses, frontline healthcare workers, those facing serious illness and difficult end-of-life decisions, newly unemployed New Yorkers, and countless others. “They [all] exercised remarkable skill and commitment in delivering outstanding pro bono legal services – for example, helping our vulnerable neighbors navigate the complexities of bankruptcy; litigating tooth and nail to save a longtime family home; and deploying both legal smarts and a deep well of compassion to assist homeless families, asylum seekers, and veterans with disability claims,” said Lynn M. Kelly, Executive Director of the City Bar Justice Center.

A special thank you to award recipients, family, friends and colleagues for making this celebration such a memorable evening! We are also very grateful to New York Cider Company, a small Ithaca-based business, for donating celebratory cider for this event in support of the City Bar Justice Center’s racial justice work.

Congratulations to our 2020 Outstanding Pro Bono Service Awardees: Andrew V. Alfano, John A. Beranbaum, Patricia Fox, Jacqueline Haberfeld, Carrie V. Hardman, Shaimaa Hussein, Adam Lapayover, Tracy (Adamovich) McLaughlin, Melissa S. Pettit, and Deborah A. Skakel.