Showing exceptional dedication to VOLS’ mission to aid the local New York City community through pro bono legal services, attorneys Gordana Vasic and Nicole Baffi took on leadership roles and spearheaded AIG’s partnership with the VOLS Immigration Project in 2020. Immigration services were particularly essential this past year, as the COVID-19 pandemic had slowed down and complicated the already-treacherous road to legal residency. Gordana and Nicole assisted individuals with citizenship documentation throughout the year. Thanks to their work, the Immigration Project has empowered individuals to know their rights and pursue the American Dream with peace of mind and a sense of belonging.

Akin Gump’s David Holmberg volunteered with the VOLS Microenterprise Project through the Small Business Legal Relief Alliance, and he has devoted more than 100 hours to advising clients. One of his clients, a New York City photographer, was able to restructure her business and reduce her tax liabilities thanks to David’s assistance.

Arnold & Porter responded to the pandemic by assisting hundreds of employees impacted by COVID-19 by providing individual counseling on unemployment, food stamps and other benefits. The firm’s New York City Unemployment Insurance team took on many referrals from the VOLS Unemployed Workers Project — 780 hours of pro bono work for VOLS clients, including one appeal — as well as other sources of unemployed restaurant employees. The following people are the NYC UI team: Matthew Bemis, Eitan Bender, Louis Champagne, Jason Hsu, David Huberman, Mariana Lee, Will Madden – Co-Chair, Manvin Mayell – Chair, Lucy McMillan, Stivens Ovalle*, Michael Rogoff, Michael Schissel, Rafe Serouya, Kathleen Wechter. This group includes partners, counsel, associates, and legal assistants.

*No longer with the firm

Cadwalader’s Private Client team was eager to get involved with VOLS Frontline & Healthcare Workers Initiative. The team did a thorough review of the citywide training materials and provided comments to the VOLS group leading the effort. The Private Client team also offered to serve as supervisors to any Cadwalader attorney taking on a case from the project or for any overflow of work from VOLS in need of review. They continue to supervise and mentor Cadwalader associates assisting clients referred by the project. In addition to the firm’s team reviewing and providing comments, the firm also hosted the citywide training to kickoff the project and provided Continuing Legal Education for attendees the day of, and after.

This past summer, Clifford Chance’s summer law clerk class, with mentoring by firm associates, built smart applications for several nonprofits. They partnered with the software company Josef, who led training and provided the technology. One team primarily worked with VOLS Unemployed Workers Project members to build the “VOLS bot”, designed to provide automated guidance and advice to pro bono volunteers, particularly in relation to FAQs for the Excluded Workers Fund. By using more modern tools to engage in a more client-centric way, VOLS (and the other legal service providers) will be able to support more of those in need and in a more profound way. The recognized team includes Eric Schaffer (associate) w/ 2021 summer associates: Tala Brewster, Sara Brown, Joanna Rymarowicz, Peggy Li, David Harris, and Nikki Williams, as well as Josef’s Sam Flynn.

Since the beginning of 2021, Covington associate Gawon Go has represented an individual on an unemployment benefits case. Soon after the pandemic hit, the client lost his job and his source of income. Gawon was lead counsel in two hearings before the Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board, secured an initial favorable decision from the first Administrative Law Judge, and continues to zealously fight on the client’s behalf in an ongoing appeal as the Department of Labor continues to seek the return of unemployment benefits.

As part of Cravath’s participation with the VOLS Children’s Hospital Project, associates Garrett Biedermann and Mark Davies represented a patient being treated for chronic kidney disease, who is a candidate for a kidney transplant, with a guardianship proceeding. Due to COVID, guardianship proceedings have been paused unless deemed an emergency. The team demonstrated this, and the client’s cousin was appointed as his guardian. The court also granted an order for special findings enabling the client to apply for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, which allows him to obtain lawful immigration status and expand his access to medical insurance necessary for the kidney transplant. The team is assisting with the SIJS application. Former associates Amanda Lamothe-Cadet and Natalie Li contributed to these pro bono efforts.

Davis Polk’s Aryeh Falk and Gene Goldmintz provided pro bono legal services to a small business owner in New York City who was significantly and negatively impacted by the shutdown of his business due to the pandemic. The consultation required explaining the complex interplay of bankruptcy law, corporate law principles, and small business loan documentation to a distressed client, in a clear and culturally-sensitive manner.

Nominated in June 2021, former Debevoise associates Giselle Alvarado and Jason LeBlanc represented a teenager in a custody proceeding in Family Court, in a Special Immigrant Juvenile Status application, and in her application to become a legal permanent resident. The representation started in October 2016, and she became a legal permanent resident in June 2020. Over the course of nearly four years, Giselle at first, and Jason when he joined the matter, helped Debevoise’s client at every step of the process. Equally important, they provided her with information and reassurance to address her concerns about the increased danger to undocumented immigrants in the period following Donald Trump’s election.

Dechert’s Christine Isaacs has been a VOLS volunteer from the beginning of her career, first serving as a 2017 Pro Bono Scholar at VOLS in the Unemployment Insurance Advocacy Project. Christine brought her enthusiasm for the work of VOLS to Dechert and, during the pandemic, led Dechert’s involvement in VOLS Unemployed Workers Project’s Unemployment Insurance Hotline, providing advice to New Yorkers about unemployment eligibility and the application process. Christine helped recruit, train, and support a team of 14 Dechert volunteers taking hotline calls. Leading by example, Christine’s pro bono docket also includes representing veterans and victims of human trafficking.

DLA Piper’s Fonda Duvanel spent many hours assisting a VOLS client, Purple City Day Care, a nonprofit in Morningside Heights/Manhattan Valley, with a review and revision of its lease.

A large Fried Frank team of volunteer attorneys participated in the VOLS Unemployed Workers Hotline project since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. They returned hotline calls and advised callers who were having trouble accessing benefits. Members of the team include:

Stewart Ross
Mary Beth Houlihan*
Kevin Zhen
Anne Aufhauser
Josh Katz
Michael Turo
Erica Perlmutter
Melissa Kahn
Joanna Rosenberg
Rati Ranga
Christopher Hinojosa*
Thomas Bethany*
Ashlee Newman*
Vivian June*
Marie Kwon
Ethan Kamer*
Andrea Pollak
Alexander Panisch*
Paul Jindra
Denis Fatovic
Sari Rosenfeld
Summer Quintana
Samantha Rozell
Vidit Mehra*

*No longer with the firm

Kirkland & Ellis partnered with VOLS and a network of other law firms, community partners, and corporate legal departments to launch the COVID-19 Frontline & Healthcare Workers Advance Directives Clinic. Kirkland business staff administered the program and assigned cases to more than 100 volunteer attorneys across 17 partner organizations. Kirkland’s legal team spent more than 250 hours ensuring New York’s frontline workers had the guidance and legal documents necessary to protect their legal, financial, and healthcare interests. This effort made it possible for 70 frontline workers to make informed decisions and execute critical advance directives.

COVID-19 Frontline & Healthcare Workers Advance Directives Clinic Team:
Bryan Belok*
Amanda Cirella*
Priscilla Consolo*
Michal Galayevich
Amy Heaton
Christiana M. Lazo
Kathryn Adele Scott*
Samantha N. Stowers
Roland Templeman
Kione Wong
Jodi Wu

*no longer with the firm

Kramer Levin’s Rita D’Souza runs the firm’s Public School 188 law clinic through VOLS Children’s Project. She has been tireless in recruiting volunteers, showing up at the school once a month (pre-pandemic) and always making sure she and volunteers are updated on changes to laws or policies that affect our clients. When the pandemic first hit, she lead a team of volunteers to create a handbook of resources that the firm could send to the school for parents addressing housing, immigration and government programs. She is a dedicated and committed leader of Kramer Levin’s PS188 project (among many others) and should be recognized for her efforts.

McGuirewoods’ Phil Goldstein has served as the firm’s New York office pro bono leader for over 10 years. Phil’s unwavering commitment to pro bono service only strengthened during the pandemic as he led the firm’s office to participate in VOLS’s estate planning project for low income health care workers. Not only did Phil personally handle estate planning matters, he supervised and mentored other attorneys during their work and took the lead on coordinating the project. Phil also coordinated the firm’s participation in Financial Institution Pro Bono Day by the Pro Bono Institute, where McGuireWoods partnered with VOLS on another estate planning clinic. Phil’s leadership and extraordinary service and commitment are greatly appreciated.

Leah Socash is an associate in Milbank’s Trusts & Estates department, and she is an expert on life planning documents. She has consistently offered her services to assist Milbank teams who want to help seniors with wills but do not have prior experience. She has directly worked on over 7 VOLS wills clients since 2018 and has dedicated more than 50 hours to these matters. However, her most important role in these and other cases is providing support and supervision to other lawyers probably would have not taken such a case without knowing that Leah would be there as a resource.

Morgan Stanley’s Jennifer Landis is the engine behind the company’s team of 30+ lawyers who comprise their small business relief team. Morgan Stanley could not do the work that they do without her incredible organizational skills, compassion and keen matching skills. She always puts together a strong team with the right client and stays on top of the work so that it gets done efficiently and well. Jen deserves to be recognized for her tremendous efforts.

MoFo proudly nominated Jeff Xu for this recognition. VOLS featured Jeff in a 2020 Pro Bono Spotlight because he has become such a steadfast contributor to the Elderly Project since his first client in 2017. Jeff has continued serving VOLS Elderly Project clients with dedication throughout the pandemic, while also contributing more than 100 hours to assist small businesses affected by the pandemic through the California Small Enterprise Task Force, an initiative begun in part by the firm. Thanks to Jeff’s offer of mentoring, a new attorney in Jeff’s practice group recently began work with his first Elderly Project client.

Volunteers of Legal Services asked O’Melveny to draft and present workshops for small businesses. The Business Outreach Center Network (BOCnet) Small Business Owners Workshop introduced local small business owners to foundational transactional law concepts, including entity formation, labor and employment, contracts, sales tax, and intellectual property. Over the course of five sessions, the Workshop reached over fifty-five members of New York’s small business community.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on small businesses in New York City, and the Workshop recognized that the need to support such businesses has never been greater. By providing tailored, practical training—including COVID-19-specific advice—the Workshop empowered attendees to navigate the legal hurdles of starting and operating small businesses.

The team on this matter included O’Melveny counsel Marina Richter, associate Emily Mills, and partner Alicja Biskupska-Haas.

Marina Richter was also featured as the VOLS September Attorney of the Month for her work on the project.

Patterson Belknap’s VOLS clients were a married couple (the second marriage for both) who were brand new to and rather intimidated by the estate planning process. Each of them had complicated relationships with children, siblings and other family members. And they had very strong and very different feelings about what they wanted their life planning documents to look like. Jennifer Brown and Maryann Clemente spent significant time educating and counselling them and addressing their questions on topics which ranged from the legal and technical to the most sensitive and intensely personal. The firm’s service resulted in a total of fourteen life planning documents which they executed via a Zoom execution ceremony necessitated by the restrictions of the pandemic. Jennifer and Maryann’s efforts deeply strengthened the clients’ peace of mind and culminated in the clients’ hand delivery of a card which read, “I know you went above and beyond to make everything easier for us.”

Paul, Weiss’ Deniz Gurbuz was instrumental in assisting VOLS with the relaunch of the Unemployed Workers Project. Back in March 2020, Deniz reconnected with the then-director of the Unemployed Workers Project, which had previously shut down during a good economy, with whom she had worked in representing unemployed workers in administrative proceedings. With the partnership of VOLS, Deniz, and the Paul, Weiss Pro Bono team, the project was relaunched in late March 2020. VOLS and Deniz developed a webinar, training materials, and resources, and the Hotline has since provided crucial legal services and advice to unemployed New Yorkers seeking access to government benefits.

Deniz quickly became the go-to associate at Paul, Weiss for complex calls that required more knowledge and understanding of the unemployment framework. From March through winter of 2020, she often committed up to two pro bono hours per day on the effort. Relaunching the hotline bypassed the bottleneck at the Department of Labor and allowed New York’s jobless to more quickly and effectively file claims. Paul, Weiss was the first firm to staff the Hotline, and under Deniz’s guidance, Paul, Weiss associates have helped hundreds of unemployed New Yorkers.

Deniz’s work did not stop at the Hotline. Once courts began to hold remote hearings, Deniz worked with VOLS to represent and advocate on behalf of claimants with more complex legal issues in administrative proceedings. She currently represents an individual who was stranded in Colombia and denied access to much-needed unemployment benefits on that basis. Reflecting her commitment to each client, Deniz has represented that claimant alone in a hearing before an administrative judge, on appeal to the administrative board, and on further appeal to New York’s Third Department.

Through VOLS’ Microenterprise Project, the recognized Proskauer team assisted a Black woman-owned small business that provides financial literacy and media services in connection with their transactional, corporate governance, and intellectual property needs. Given the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black- and woman-owned businesses, as well as the great need for financial literacy given the economic turmoil that ensued from it, the pro bono support was crucial in ensuring the business could stay afloat and continue serving its clients. The Proskauer team included Andrew Bettwy, Lukas Mansour, Maya Tarr, and Bryant Wright*. 

*No longer with firm

From May 31 through June 1, 1921, a large White mob, including city and county leaders, destroyed a peaceful, prosperous Black community in North Tulsa, Greenwood, killing and injuring scores of Black residents and causing the equivalent of approximately $200 million in damages. VOLS is pleased to recognize the team of Schulte Roth & Zabel (SRZ) lawyers who are co-counsel in the groundbreaking lawsuit, Randle v. City of Tulsa et. al., including Sara Solfanelli, James Koenderman, Michael Swartz, Randall Adams, Theodore Keyes, Alex Wharton, McKenzie Haynes, Angela Garcia, Ekenedilichukwu Ukabiala, Victoria Harris, Brandon Faske, and Melanie Collins. SRZ represents the Massacre’s only three known living survivors and descendants of victims. The suit alleges that the City of Tulsa and others created a public nuisance of racial disparities, economic inequalities, insecurity, and trauma. It also seeks to force the City to directly address the negative conditions in Greenwood that stemmed from the Massacre and to establish a compensation fund for its victims and their descendants. The team works closely with the Greenwood community to seek justice for the thousands of victims and their descendants after 100 years.

Sidley served small business owners in New York hard hit by the pandemic, staffing numerous small clinics organized by the City Bar and the Small Business Legal Relief program, in which VOLS participated. Michael David Williams and Adam Barber did outstanding work in the VOLS commercial lease project, giving advice and guidance to New Yorkers who needed help in negotiating with their commercial landlords.

VOLS recognizes Simpson Thacher’s Bryce Friedman, Jonathan Myers*, Peter Farag, Eleanor Shingleton, and Eric Yang. The team handled multiple unemployment hearings for New Yorkers suffering devastating job losses due to the COVID pandemic, including three NYC public school substitute teachers who were told they were eligible, applied for, and received unemployment insurance benefits through the summer months. In the fall of 2020, the NYS Department of Labor stated that the teachers should not have received those summer month benefits and asked the teachers to pay the benefits back, which most could not afford to do. The Firm has won all three of those cases on behalf of these teacher-clients.

*No longer with the firm

VOLS recognizes the Stroock team for their leadership to create the Small Business Legal Relief Alliance, including: Donna Bianchino, Alexandra Chin-Sukhdeo*, Kevin J. Curnin*, and Kerry T. Cooperman. The team of Stroock attorneys and staff, during the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic, created and has since administered the Small Business Legal Relief Alliance (SBLRA), a coalition of more than two dozen large law firms and seven legal service organizations, including VOLS, that provides expert legal and financial guidance and direct assistance to New York-based small businesses, microenterprises, and nonprofits impacted by the pandemic. The SBLRA, led by the Stroock team, has helped nearly 700 small business owners and nonprofits–many women- and minority-owned or run–navigate and resolve issues including renegotiation of commercial leases, securing access to government loans and grants, employment-related challenges, bankruptcy matters, intellectual property matters, and corporate and transactional matters (among others). The team has also presented trainings to small business owners and practitioners on issues including economic relief for small business owners, federal and state loan and grant programs, and commercial lease negotiations. Stroock continues to help small businesses and nonprofits through expert legal consultations and full engagements. VOLS congratulates Kevin Curnin for his many years of service as Stroock’s former Pro Bono Partner.

*No longer with the firm

Over the course of the last five years, Sullivan & Cromwell’s Tim Weinstein has been a repeat volunteer working with housing clients whose family members suffer from asthma. He has assisted in obtaining remediation of conditions in their apartments, many of which increase the health of the families that the firm serve. He has also assisted in screening potential clients of AIR NYC for this project, in collaboration with the VOLS Children’s Project, for the last three years.