City Bar Justice Center Raises Over $1.25M to Support Free Legal Services at 21st Annual Gala, 𝑂𝑝𝑒𝑛 𝐷𝑜𝑜𝑟𝑠 | 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑠ℎ 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑠

CONTACT
Anthony Johnson 
City Bar Justice Center 
anthonyjohnson@nycbar.org 

New York, April 20, 2026 – The City Bar Justice Center, a pro bono legal services affiliate of the New York City Bar Association, held its 21st Annual Gala, Open Doors | Fresh Starts, on Wednesday, April 15. For the second year in a row, three honorees were recognized with City Bar Justice Awards – Goldman Sachs, Ropes & Gray LLP, and the Honorable Jonathan Lippman.

With nearly 300 people in attendance at the New York City Bar Association building in Midtown Manhattan, the event raised more than $1.25M to support over 27,000 New Yorkers who benefit from the Justice Center’s services. The theme, Open Doors | Fresh Starts, symbolizes the new opportunities that our communities can gain once receiving free and accessible legal assistance that can change lives.

“The City Bar Justice Center team sees first-hand the issues that amount to closed doors for those we serve. Our clients navigate a legal landscape designed for attorneys, and that often makes them frustrated, scared, and sad. Our team and volunteers show up for our clients and neighbors. They advocate for fresh starts and peaceful futures, and that makes me intensely proud,” said Executive Director Kurt M. Denk.

David Hennes, Litigation Partner at Ropes & Gray LLP and pro bono champion, accepted the award on the firm’s behalf. The honor highlighted Ropes & Gray’s work with the Justice Center’s Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project and the Veterans Assistance Project. Additionally, the firm’s volunteerism was emphasized through mentions of their work with Liev Schrieber’s Ukrainian humanitarian organization Blue Check and medically tailored meals nonprofit God’s Love We Deliver.

Goldman Sachs was represented by Adam Heft, Managing Director, Employment Law, and Sponsor of the Pro Bono Committee. The investment banking firm has supported several of the Justice Center’s programs, such as the Immigrant Justice Project.

“Goldman attorneys have successfully taken multiple asylum cases over the past eight years, including on cases where clients from Morocco and Jamaica were fleeing gendered- and sexuality-based violence. Some of these cases take years to resolve, and Goldman volunteers’ commitment to clients is notable,” said Caitlin Miner-Legrand, Co-Director of the Immigrant Justice Project, in her introduction of Heft at the event.

To cap off the awards program, Alan Levine, Senior Counsel at Cooley and President of the Legal Aid Society’s Board of Directors, introduced former Chief Judge of New York Jonathan Lippman as this year’s individual honoree. As part of his long list of groundbreaking accomplishments in championing equal access to justice issues nationwide, Chief Judge Lippman made New York the first state in the country to require 50 hours of pro bono work prior to bar admission and strengthened the state’s indigent criminal defense system through the enactment of a statute to provide caseload caps for public defenders that is still in effect today.

For more information about the City Bar Justice Center’s programs and upcoming events, visit https://www.citybarjusticecenter.org/

Additional donations can be made year-round by heading to https://www.citybarjusticecenter.org/donation-form/

Underwriters
Goldman Sachs
Ropes & Gray LLP

Benefactors
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Bloomberg L.P.
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
Latham & Watkins LLP
Mayer Brown LLP
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Proskauer Rose LLP
Sidley Austin LLP
Sullivan and Cromwell LLP
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP

Sponsors
Barclays PLC
Deloitte
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
DLA Piper LLP
Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP
Jenner & Block LLP
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Mizuho Financial Group, Inc.
Morgan Stanley
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Vladeck, Raskin & Clark, P.C.

Supporters
Allen Overy Shearman Sterling LLP
AIG
Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP
Metlife, Inc.
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
Winston & Strawn LLP
Lowenstein Sandler LLP
Analysis Group, Inc.
Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP
Blank Rome LLP
BNP Paribas
Esquire Deposition Solutions
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
KPMG
Linklaters LLP
O’Melveny & Myers LLP
Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

Builders
Akerman LLP
Covington & Burling LLP
Crowell & Moring LLP
Dechert LLP
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Hearst Communications, Inc.
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP
Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP
Paul Hastings LLP
The Morrison & Foerster Foundation

Advocates
Chubb
Dentons
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
Flik Hospitality Group
Goodwin Procter LLP
Holland & Knight LLP
King & Spalding LLP
Milbank LLP
Reed Smith LLP
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Troutman Pepper Locke LLP
UBS Group AG
Citigroup
EisnerAmper LLP

About the City Bar Justice Center 

The City Bar Justice Center furthers access to justice by addressing unmet civil legal needs of New Yorkers struggling with poverty and other systemic socioeconomic barriers. The Justice Center’s dozen civil justice projects are led by a staff of dedicated attorneys and support professionals who provide high-quality civil legal services through brief advice and information, referrals, and both limited scope and extended representation that benefit more than 27,000 New Yorkers each year who cannot afford to hire counsel. www.citybarjusticecenter.org