Pro Bono Week 2020 Profile: Dan Cantor – Protecting D.C. Seniors from Eviction and Homelessness
20 October 2020 Blog, Featured
Since joining Legal Counsel for the Elderly’s Advisory Board five years ago, Arnold & Porter Partner Daniel Cantor has zealously defended D.C. seniors with limited means from eviction and homelessness. His exemplary pro bono work has resulted in life-changing victories that enabled his clients to stay in their homes.
Pro Bono Week 2020 Profile: Brad Guest – Helping Entrepreneurs Achieve Their Life’s Dream
19 October 2020 Blog, Featured
Brad Guest volunteers his time to support D.C.’s small businesses because for the clients “this is often their life’s dream, something they’ve poured their time and energy into often exclusively for a long time. Receiving pro bono legal advice may be the only opportunity for these individuals to get answers to questions that could not only impact their business, but also their personal risk and liability.”
Racial Justice Series Part 1: Racism By Design
16 October 2020 Blog, Featured
Join us for the first of this year’s three-part Racial Justice Series examining institutional racism and how to advocate for real and lasting change for our clients. At our first event, our panel will examine both the history and the present reality of housing segregation and how federal, state, and local policies have affected and advanced systems of structural racial inequality in education, public health, voting, criminal justice, and more.
Pro Bono Week 2020 Profile: Williams & Connolly Team – Helping DC Families Secure Homes for Future Holidays
14 October 2020 Blog, Featured
In December 2018, residents across the District were preparing for the holidays and enjoying the comfort of their warm homes. However, for those living in a Brightwood Park apartment complex, a fire broke out leaving six families without a place to call home. The children who lost their homes in the fire that night were not only traumatized – their health had been endangered by unsafe housing. Children’s Law Center attorneys and investigators, led by Senior Supervising Attorney Kathy Zeisel, filed a complaint and secured temporary Red Cross shelter for the six families. But in an atypical moment for our organization, we brought in Williams & Connolly to co-counsel, knowing that an unusual case this size needed pro bono help from a team of fierce civil litigators. That team included firm associates Tracey A. Fung, Michaela Wilkes Klein and Tony Sheh, with partner Andy Keyes providing support and supervision.
Pro Bono Week 2020 Profiles: Kristin Whidby – Navigating a Path to Safety with DC Volunteer Lawyers Project
14 October 2020 Blog, Featured
Kristin Whidby is not a typical senior litigation associate. She handles complex IP, real estate, and securities litigation matters for a wide range of clients, but she does much more. She’s also the mother of four young children, and in recent months has added the demands of managing remote learning to her other parental responsibilities. On top of all that, Kristin has continued to be an active volunteer for the DC Volunteer Lawyers Project, providing direct representation to clients and serving on its Junior Board.
Pro Bono Week 2020 Profile: Jennifer Swize – Making A Significant Impact In Survivors’ Lives
14 October 2020 Blog, Featured
DV LEAP is fortunate to work with so many pro bono attorneys who make our work on behalf of family violence survivors possible. Each brings unique skills and commitment to our cases; each makes a critical difference in survivors’ lives. Jennifer Swize, however, stands out for the breadth of the impact she has made—on both our clients and DV LEAP as a whole.
Pro Bono Week 2020 Profile: Anam Rahman – Making A Long-Term Difference In The Lives of Immigrants
07 October 2020 Blog, Featured
Anam Rahman was instilled with the values of philanthropy, altruism, and empathy from a young age. As a fluent Spanish speaker, Anam has been volunteering at D.C.-based immigration clinics like the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center’s Immigration Legal Advice & Referral Clinic and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.’s Board of Immigration Appeals Pro Bono Project for years. “Finding the time to volunteer and do pro bono work reminds me of why I became an immigration attorney in the first place: to help people and families,” Anam said.
Pro Bono Week 2020 Profiles: Ellen Bass – Representing Unaccompanied Children Seeking Safety
07 October 2020 Blog, Featured
Globally, 2020 has been a difficult year and the immigration legal field has been no exception. Changes, such as new asylum rules, attempts to raise fees and alter filing procedures, and developments in case law, have made an already complex area of law much harder to navigate. The majority of unaccompanied children lack representation in their immigration cases. Representing unaccompanied immigrant children can be complicated, as the majority of these children come to the United States after surviving trauma and leaving families and communities behind to seek safety from unthinkable situations. Further, these children are placed in removal proceedings with no guaranteed access to counsel or an adult to speak on their behalf. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to add further stress on this already vulnerable population, as low-income living and working circumstances increase the risk of contracting the virus, children lose access to supports in educational settings, caretakers are unemployed, and community supports are more difficult to access. Ellen Bass has come out of retirement to help these children find peace and safety.
Pro Bono Week 2020 Profile: Gibson Dunn/Hewlett Packard Team Profoundly Changes Life of Young Honduran Child
07 October 2020 Blog, Featured
Two of CAIR Coalition’s longstanding pro bono partners, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, recently collaborated with each other and CAIR Coalition to profoundly change the life of a young Honduran child whom the government-held for nearly a year in prolonged immigration detention. In doing so, their teams of talented attorneys advanced cutting-edge litigation that will help many similarly situated children.