Akin Gump Celebrates Lawyer and Staff Pro Bono Work in 2022 Awards Ceremony

(New York) – Akin Gump is proud to share the results of the firm’s annual Pro Bono Awards, held every July to recognize exemplary efforts and results in pro bono work by the firm’s lawyers and business services professionals.

The ceremony, as in previous years, was hosted by chairperson Kim Koopersmith and was recently preceded by the firm’s highest-ever ranking in The American Lawyer’s annual Pro Bono Scorecard, placing at number 20.

The individuals, teams and matters recognized at the firmwide ceremonies were:

Office of the Year – Dallas. In 2021, 90 percent of Dallas attorneys worked on pro bono matters, with the office on pace to average 100+ pro bono hours per attorney, and Dallas teams working on a wide variety of matters, including several asylum cases for Central American women fleeing gangs and domestic violence.

Practice Group of the Year – Labor. ​In 2021, 92 percent of the firm’s labor lawyers reached 20 hours of pro bono, with the group providing crucial labor and employment advice to many nonprofit organizations. Last year, the firm’s labor lawyers established important precedent in California: Nonprofits are entitled to accept help from unpaid volunteers under California law.

Litigation Matter of the Year – Trafficking Team. ​​​​A litigation team from the New York office represented a trafficking survivor and critical witness in the high-profile prosecution of Lawrence Ray.  Ray moved into his daughter’s dorm at Sarah Lawrence College in 2010 and started a cult-like conspiracy targeting his daughter’s friends at the college. The team worked with our client for two years, ultimately preparing her to testify in federal court about the severe abuse she suffered for nearly a decade under Ray’s control. Ray was found guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

Transactional/Counseling Matter of the Year – CIVIC Evacuation Team. ​​​In the wake of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, this team worked tirelessly to evacuate Afghan employees of our client, the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC, securing 49 humanitarian visas to Ireland for these individuals and working to provide them with Irish residency and, ultimately, the ability to secure EU passports in a little over two years’ time.

Associate of the Year – Brett Manisco. A litigation associate in the firm’s Los Angeles office, Brett Manisco has been a pro bono leader since his earliest days at the firm. As a junior associate, he stepped in to lead the L.A. office’s summer associate Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) pro bono program, in which he managed and mentored summers working with domestic violence survivors seeking immigration relief. Mr. Manisco’s own pro bono practice is varied, as he has worked on domestic violence matters, asylum cases, and a prisoner’s rights litigation.

Counsel of the Year – Erica Holland. A litigation counsel in the firm’s New York office, Erica Holland has been one of the key members of the team challenging Florida HB1, which seeks to criminalize protest activity in the wake of large-scale protests after the murder of George Floyd. Working with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the ACLU of Florida, and Community Justice Project, Ms. Holland helped lead the team through discovery. Throughout her career, she has dedicated herself to a wide variety of causes, including helping to save an immigrant from deportation and advising a public interest publisher on First Amendment issues.​

Frank Reddick Partner of the Year – Helen Marshall. A litigation partner in the firm’s London office, ​Helen Marshall has spearheaded the firm’s relationship with Reprieve, an organization that advocates against the death penalty. Since 2017, she has led an initiative with Reprieve and Malawian lawyers from the Legal Aid Bureau to prepare appeals for death row prisoners in Malawi—a tremendous team effort, with Ms. Marshall managing more than 20 Akin Gump lawyers in the London office.

Julia Ghahramani Immigration Advocacy Award – Sahar Abas. ​​A corporate associate in the firm’s Dubai office, Sahar Abas has, since the fall of the Afghan government in August 2021,  been a steadfast advocate for Afghan refugees. An Afghan woman herself, she used her Dari language skills to translate and interpret for Afghan clients, helped create a country conditions report to support the cases of several Afghan female asylum seekers, and worked directly on several asylum cases herself for clients that include the family of a former member of the Parliament of Afghanistan, and a former captain in the Afghan army.​

Diane Streat Award – Kerry Smith. ​​A legal secretary in our Abu Dhabi office, Kerry Smith reached out seven thousand miles to play a pivotal role in the firm’s Compassionate Release Project for Washington, D.C. prisoners, in which, volunteers screened prisoners to see if they met D.C.’s pandemic-related compassionate release program’s requirements. Ms. Smith was the project’s most active volunteer, single-handedly reviewing more than 300 applications for compassionate release.

Pro Bono & Public Service Hall of Fame – Bill Morris. A partner in the firm’s Houston office, Bill Morris ​​​has been with Akin Gump for nearly 35 years, serving in leadership positions in Moscow and Houston and always serving his community. When Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast region, Mr. Morris sprang into action, eventually becoming general counsel to the Katrina Relief Fund, which distributed tens of millions of dollars in aid to affected communities from New Orleans to Houston. When Hurricane Harvey and the 2021 Texas Winter Storm hit, he again leapt into action, helping the firm establish the Akin Gump Charitable Relief Fund, which helped the firm’s employees recover from these devastating disasters.

​Beyond his work in rapid response to natural disasters, Mr. Morris has also sought to improve things proactively. He has been a key to the firm’s relationship with the KIPP Charter Schools from the beginning, advising them on several strategic school mergers. He chaired the Houston office’s Pro Bono Committee for more than a decade. Through his leadership, particularly with Houston Volunteer Lawyers, he has taught a generation of Akin Gump lawyers how to care for their communities, mentored countless associates on pro bono matters, and fostered a strong pro bono culture in the Houston office.

To learn more about Akin Gump’s high-impact pro bono practice, please click here.

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 900 lawyers in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

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