Nation - ABA to present 2010 Pro Bono Publico Awards

The American Bar Association Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service will recognize three individual lawyers and two law firms with its 2010 Pro Bono Publico Awards on Monday, Aug. 9, at its Awards Assembly Luncheon at Moscone Center West, during the ABA 2010 Annual Meeting in San Francisco. ABA President Carolyn B. Lamm will introduce the 2010 awards. "Learning about the recipients of the 2010 Pro Bono Publico Awards is a reminder of the significant role the legal profession plays in the lives of the disadvantaged. The pro bono work that these individuals and firms contribute to their communities without charge demonstrates how the legal profession delivers on the promise of equal justice for all." The 2010 honorees are: Lan T. Nguyen of Shortt & Nguyen in Houston handles cases for the Houston Volunteer Lawyers Program, the Houston Area Women's Center and Vietnamese charities in the Houston area on a pro bono basis. She is a co-sponsor and co-founder of the Asian Will-a-thon, an annual event to provide wills and estate documents for indigent members of the Vietnamese-speaking communities in Houston and surrounding areas. She also has translated free legal handbooks from the Houston Bar into Vietnamese; David A. Reiser of Zuckerman Spaeder LLP in Washington, D.C., helped launch the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia's Appellate Advocacy Project, an endeavor supported by grants from the DC Bar Foundation and by the long-term commitment of resources from Zuckerman Spaeder. The project's goal is to provide the highest quality appellate representation in civil matters to the disadvantaged in Washington, D.C.; Sylvia Hardaway Walbolt of Carlton Fields in Tampa, Fla., established and served as first chair of her firm's pro bono committee, and through her pro bono work has represented such diverse clients as a group of Holocaust survivors, the widow of a migrant worker who died because the temporary trailer he was living in lacked a smoke detector and individuals on death row; Bryan Cave LLP has taken a number of steps to build on its commitment to making a difference in the communities in which it has offices. Perhaps its best-known pro bono case is the exoneration of Joshua Kezer, who, although innocent, served 16 years of a 60-year sentence before a team of the firm's lawyers obtained Kezer's release with a habeas corpus hearing; and Mintz Levin, Cohen, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C., began working on behalf of victims of domestic violence in 1990. Since then the firm has represented about 750 individuals on domestic violence issues, including working with the Massachusetts legislature on new laws to enhance protection; the firm also supports a number of other pro bono projects Published: Wed, Jun 23, 2010

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