2017 Pro Bono Awards
White & Case honors a select group of lawyers and legal staff for their outstanding pro bono achievements each year. These individuals have applied their legal skills and knowledge to make a difference in the lives of individuals, build the rule of law and strengthen non-governmental organizations around the world.
This year's Pro Bono Awards celebrate outstanding work of significant impact by 239 lawyers and legal staff across 36 offices during 2016.
We also give awards for Volunteer Leadership, which you can view here.
Office Award
Madrid
For record participation in pro bono, with 100% of lawyers in the office devoting 20 or more hours to pro bono work.
Abu Dhabi
Dana Abbas
For work on behalf of SOS Children's Villages, an NGO serving orphaned and neglected children, the Perkins School for the Blind, and for research on a variety of global research projects.
Beijing
Xiaofeng Gong
For work on behalf of Right to Play, a sports organization for disadvantaged children, and for staffing the Peking University Law School clinic which provides pro bono legal services to small and newly established enterprises.
Berlin
Cornelia Abmeier and Alexander Dohmen
For contributing to a study on global water governance for Waterlex, an official UN water partner working to promote sustainable water governance worldwide.
Bratislava
Peter Hodal and Vladimir Ivanco
For assisting Gymnazium Novohradska, a Bratislavan grammar school, regarding the purchase of land under and around the school building. After seven years of assisting the state, the team won a complicated dispute over land ownership with a British company.
Peter Hodal
For serving the Slovak Ministry of Justice's working group on personal insolvency, which was convened to address the prevalence of individuals falling into debt traps. The working group drafted revisions making solutions to personal insolvency more approachable and prepared special provisions to protect debtors' housing. The final proposal of the working group was adopted in a slightly modified form by the Slovak National Council. It is expected that this major piece of legislation will affect more than 100,000 households in the short term, and many more in the long term.
Radoslav Palka
For providing legal advice to AKUSSaC, o.z., the Slovak office of the Alkaptonuria (AKU) Society, regarding employment rights of patients diagnosed with AKU, and for representation of a nonprofit elementary school for autistic children regarding its lease and other legal matters.
Michal Zathurecky
For work on behalf of Law Scanner, an NGO working to promote citizens' rights in the areas of health and social policy.
Brussels
Alice Bernard, Genevra Forwood, James Killick and Charlotte Van Haute
For helping a nonprofit which promotes peace and justice contest allegations of misuse of EU funds.
Martin Möllmann and Charlotte Van Haute
For leading the office's multi-prong effort to improve conditions at Uganda's official juvenile rehabilitation center, Kampiringisa National Rehabilitation Centre; for assisting SOS Children's Villages with corporate, IP, tax, employment and other matters; and for pro bono coordination and support as pro bono liaisons in the Brussels office.
Nathalie Colin
For advising International Crisis Group on a variety of insurance, employment, litigation, tax and commercial contract matters; for representing an elderly client challenging the attempt by ten Member States comprising the former Western European Union to revoke, ex post facto, the client's redundancy payment that was granted to our client when the Western European Union still existed.
Marika Harjula
For drafting materials and providing on-site training in competition law to the Competition Commission of Mauritius.
Jeremie Jourdan
For his presentation in Cairo on EU competition law to the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) as these states seek to establish fairer and better regulated competition regimes.
Aurélie Terlinden
For helping the International Association of Youth and Family Judges and Magistrates update its statutes and address issues related to moving its seat to Brussels; and for advising the NGO Global Corporate Governance Colloquia on its constitution.
Irina Trichkovska
For assisting The Day After Association, an NGO promoting democracy in Syria, with research on extra-territorial jurisdiction as it relates to human rights violations and international crimes; and for representing the International Committee for the Preservation of Cemeteries, Mass Burials and Historical Sites in the EU test litigation over land in the Ukraine, including the site of a Jewish cemetery desecrated by the Nazis during World War II.
Doha
Charbel Abou Charaf
For work on a variety of pro bono matters, including advising the Grameen Jameel Fund, a microfinance organization; providing legal support to the Association for the Promotion and Exhibition of the Arts in Lebanon (APEAL), a new art museum in Lebanon; and for coordinating pro bono efforts across our Middle East offices.
Dubai
Fatima Adhami
For work on a global project aimed at informing stakeholders in Lebanon on constitutional and legal reform options.
Sankalp Labroo
For ongoing corporate legal assistance to Hedaya, an NGO dedicated to countering violent extremism.
Dusseldorf
Guido Hermeier
For contributing to a study on global water governance for Waterlex, an official UN water partner working to promote sustainable water governance worldwide.
Frankfurt
Andreas Klein
For representation of Sir Peter Ustinov Stiftung, an NGO providing support for disabled children around the world, in a compensation claims dispute.
Geneva
Eileen Crowley
For work on a variety of pro bono projects including the drafting of a white paper for Refugee Solidarity Network on establishing a pro bono partnership between Refugee Rights Turkey and Turkish law firms and the development of increased legal aid resources; the creation of an advocacy guide on gender-based violence for Women Enabled International; and for researching and analyzing the links between the law and UN Sustainable Development Goals 9 and 12 on behalf of Advocates for International Development (A4ID).
Myriam Karama
For contributing to a global legal research project on behalf of the Public International Law and Policy Group and staffing legal clinics at the Royal Courts of Justice and Whitechapel Mission.
Sara Nordin
For supporting a variety of pro bono projects: providing NGO New Markets Lab with research on international trade to support a project aimed at increasing the Government of Zambia's efforts to trade products with the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act; researching and analyzing the links between the law and UN Sustainable Development Goals 9 and 12 on behalf of Advocates for International Development (A4ID); and drafting a legal memo on behalf of the Public International Law & Policy Group.
Hamburg
Bernd Schneider
For ongoing representation of ELIM Diakonie Service GmbH, an NGO that provides care centers, mobile health services and social integration projects for the elderly, disabled and asylum seekers; and corporate advice to Stiftung Kloster Eberbach, an NGO dedicated to conserving Eberbach Abbey, a monastery in Eltville, Germany.
Susanne Weiss-Reichelt
For representing a transgender woman seeking legal recognition of her gender and for work on behalf of the International LGBTI Association of Europe and Transgender Europe.
Helsinki
Sarianna Jarvio
For contributing to the World Bank's Women, Business and the Law report and advice to TRACE International on anti-bribery compliance under Finnish law.
Jussi Kukko
For assisting the Carmen Pardo-Valcarce Foundation with research on EU law concerning disabled victims of crime and for assisting PILnet with research on Finnish legal aid best practices for a Chinese legal aid reform project.
Istanbul
Rozita Borden
For leadership of pro bono in Istanbul and work on behalf of a variety of NGOs including International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance and Rainforest Alliance.
Derya Evirgen
For advising FINCA, a global microfinance institution serving low-income entrepreneurs in developing countries, on Turkish law and compliance matters regarding the establishment of a liaison office and regional service center in Turkey.
Ayşegül Kula
For advising Refugee Solidarity Network in its effort to establish a representative office in Turkey and for support of the Jessup Moot Court Competition.
Ersin Özkaya
For staffing the AKDEM Zeytinburnu Women and Family Support Center, part of the Bilgi University Legal Clinic, which provides assistance to physically or mentally abused women in a low-income area.
Lara Sezerler
For serving as a national administrator for the Jessup Moot Court National Rounds in 2016; for advising Refugee Solidarity Network in its effort to establish a representative office in Turkey; for contributing to a study of global water governance for WaterLex, a Swiss water rights NGO; and for advising NGO Finca on issues related to its Turkish office.
Jakarta
Muhammad Fatah
For assisting Liberty Asia with a legal research project to compare the new ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking In Persons against local domestic law in the ten ASEAN countries.
Johannesburg
Rosanna Bibis
For providing legal advice to the African Management Initiative, which supports education and development for African business managers and entrepreneurs, support of the Jessup International Moot Court Competition and the Pan-African Lawyers Association.
Sara Green
For providing legal advice to the African Management Initiative, which supports education and development for African business managers and entrepreneurs, and for providing registration and governance advice for Trade-Mark Trust, a social enterprise supporting low-income tradesmen from impoverished communities.
Given Mavhase
For providing legal advice to the African Management Initiative, which supports education and development for African business managers and entrepreneurs, and for assisting a variety of other organizations including Christian AID UK.
Marianna Naicker
For providing legal advice to the African Management Initiative, an organization that supports education and development for African business managers and entrepreneurs; and for support of the Jessup International Moot Court Competition.
London
Özlem Dowling and Daniella Ebrahimoff
For their advice to the Beulah Trust, a charitable foundation that aims to create sustainable livelihoods for the victims of trafficking, on negotiating a shareholders agreement.
Joanne Abbott, James Holden, Natalie Lucas and Robert Wheal
For their advice to 21st Century Leaders in relation to the termination of two license agreements, concluding in the successful negotiation of a settlement.
Rory Hishon, Hazel Levent and Natalie Lucas
For their advice to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on a series of contractual claims it has against a supplier of 37 LED screens, in connection with an interactive event the Globe organized earlier this year named "The Complete Walk Event".
Kevin Heverin, Sanni Nissila and Jamal Tuhin
For their advice to Accomable, a London-based startup which helps people with mobility issues find adapted homes and holiday rentals worldwide, on its first ever fundraising round.
Anastasiya Lisovskaya, Dayle Perles Fattal and Radhika Wason
For their research on the laws affecting minimum wages for children in a number of countries, which is being used to create a global database for Children's Rescue International Network (CRIN) with the aim of promoting access to justice for children around the world.
Jessica Oliver and Victoria Sharp
For their assistance to the Public International Law and Policy Group (PILPG) on a research project on voting rights for stateless or undocumented persons.
Viktor Braun, Amir Heyat and Tatiana Roldan Ferri
For their assistance in completing a survey of the financial inclusion policies and legal and regulatory information in various jurisdictions, with an ultimate goal of making financial services more accessible to the world's 2.5 billion unbanked people.
India Benjamin
For her participation in several pro bono matters, including advice to ILGA Europe and Love Nepal.
Rosy Gibson
For her research for a comparative report on UK laws and policies that identify and protect the rights of persons with intellectual disability to vote, run for office and participate in the political system and government.
Matthias Goetz
For his introduction of a new pro bono relationship with the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy as well as his participation in several IP pro bono matters, including advice to the Zoological Society of London and the International Crisis Group.
Raif Hassan
For his research and analysis on laws and policies concerning online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) under UK law and any applicable international laws and standards, which will be used to assist International Justice Mission UK (IJM UK) determine the focus for a future campaign related to OSEC in the UK.
Beth Hough
For her research and analysis of the new ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking In Persons (ACTIP) as against local domestic law and existing anti-trafficking legislation in the ten ASEAN countries.
Tallat Hussain
For her participation in several pro bono matters, often utilizing her environmental law expertise, including advice to the International Lifeline Fund and the Resolution Project.
Audrey Oh
For her advice to International Crisis Group (ICG) with respect to data protection, which has helped ICG bring its operations into compliance with EU data protection law and direct marketing laws.
Francis Christian Parham
For his participation in several pro bono matters, including advice to the Avon Center and the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Vedad Ramljak
For his research covering the constitutional, legal and regulatory frameworks for governance adopted by states with pluralistic societies around the world to inform stakeholders in Lebanon on constitutional and legal reform options.
Laura Smith
For her participation in several pro bono matters, including advice to the Hands Up Foundation and Whitechapel Mission.
Anna Soroka
For her research on engagement with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights for the New York City Bar.
Ash von Schwan
For his participation in several IP pro bono matters, including advice to the Design Mine Limited and the Zoological Society of London.
Rachel Wong
For her assistance reviewing and negotiating a fundraising agreement in advance of a fundraising initiative for International Rescue Committee UK (IRC UK), a charity that supports people uprooted by conflicts and natural disasters to rebuild their lives and communities.
Su Yeun Yang
For her research on criminalization of petty offences in Gabon with a view to working towards decriminalization.
Klementyna Zastawniak
For her research and analysis of the situation in Iraq for child asylum-seekers, encompassing child persecution and children’s rights abuses in Iraq, in support of the Migrant and Refugee Children's Legal Unit (MiCLU) project.
Los Angeles
Craig Averch
For corporate legal advice to the Zoological Society of London.
Camron Dowlatshahi
For helping the Pontis Foundation research legislation on personal insolvencies, particularly for the homeless or those under threat of being homeless; and for work on behalf of a variety of pro bono clients, including Revels, a small performing arts company, and Public International Law & Policy Group.
Kimberly King
For work on a global project to research women entrepreneurs' access to capital and collateral around the world in collaboration with Goldman Sachs and Women's World Banking, and for securing guardianships for disadvantaged children.
Matt Lewis
For representation of a US Paralympic athlete in the appeal of an adverse ruling by the American Arbitration Association.
Carmen Lo
For her work on behalf of the national Clemency Project and for providing corporate advice to the Rubin Museum of Art in New York.
David Nealy
For assisting with the formation of the social enterprise Harvest on behalf of Groceryships, which provides education and food access to low-income communities; for advising the Aga Khan Foundation, a global development NGO, on setting up trust mechanisms; and for work on a variety of other pro bono matters.
Madrid
Esteban de Santos
For helping the Pontis Foundation research legislation on personal insolvencies, particularly for the homeless or those under threat of being homeless; and for contributing research to a global study for Child Rights International Network on a variety of minimum-age laws affecting children.
Laura Gonzalez
For general coordination and support of pro bono activities in the Madrid office.
Elisabeta Perez-Arda
For advising Transfo Empresas Sociales regarding current legal structures available for social businesses in Spain and providing legal advice on corporate structures for NGOs registering in the EU on behalf of Advocates for International Development (A4ID).
Mexico City
Sofia Duclaud-Llantad, Raul Fernandez Briseno and Ricardo Pedroza
For providing legal advice to Grupo Aliada MX, a Mexican start-up that promotes the development of women between 25-35 years old who provide cleaning services to businesses and families.
Iker Arriola
For longstanding pro bono leadership and support in Mexico.
Fernando Garcia
For providing representation to the education-focused NGO Aprendamos Primero on a successful federal court case challenging the suspension of teacher's evaluations, and for challenging an agreement between the Secretary of the Interior, the government of the state of Oaxaca and a national teachers union, which had resulted in a similar suspension of evaluations.
Sara Madrid
For contributing to a global research study with Goldman Sachs and Women's World Banking on women entrepreneurs' access to capital and collateral; for assisting NGO Namati research state recognition of community paralegals in Bolivia; and for supporting Women Enabled International by researching international human rights conventions to support the rights of women and girls with disabilities.
Pedro-Mauricio Morales Gomez
For contributing to a study on global water governance for Waterlex, a Swiss water rights NGO, and for assisting on a global legal project for the Public Interest Law and Policy Group.
Ricardo Quezada
For work on a range of pro bono matters for the Public Interest Law and Policy Group, Partners of the Americas, and Mexico Renace Verde.
Miami
Alejandra Berlioz and Doug Halsey
For helping Florida's Children First safeguard the legal rights of children in Florida's foster care system.
Michele Beauvais-Wagoner
For managing and coordinating a global research project on the online sexual exploitation of children for Child Rights International Network.
David Draigh
For his work filing a lawsuit to seek accurate death certificates for surviving same-sex spouses who lost their partners before the Supreme Court decided Obergefell v. Hodges and for filing a motion to reconsider an opinion holding that a pro bono client was not the prevailing party for purposes of entitlement to attorneys' fees.
Dylan Fay
For representing a prisoner who brought an excessive force claim against the St. Lucie County Jail and several individual officers and for contributing to a class-action lawsuit against the State of Michigan on behalf of children with learning disabilities in the Flint, Michigan school district who have been affected by the Flint water crisis.
Deanna Hirshorn
For managing a global research project on the criminalization of atrocity crimes undertaken for the UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect.
Alejandra Berlioz and Quin Landon
For representing a prisoner who brought an excessive force claim against the St. Lucie County Jail and several individual officers.
Milan
Patrick Meson
For work on behalf of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion and The Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment.
New York
Emily Donohue, Zachary Henick, Jordan Kobb, Alex Miller and John Reiss
For successfully handling several clemency petitions as part of President Obama's National Clemency Project, winning sentence commutations for those convicted of low-level, non-violent offenses who would have received a significantly shorter sentence today.
Amity Boye, Nida Jafrani, Elzbieta Matthews, Owen Pell and Alice Tsier
For drafting a US Supreme Court Amicus Curiae brief in support of a petitioner sentenced to death in the State of Carolina.
Daniel Moon
For leading a study on global water governance for Waterlex, an official UN water partner working to promote sustainable water governance worldwide.
Walter Ciacci, Laura Garr and Lindsay Heck
For their ongoing commitment and work on a case challenging current funding levels in several New York school districts for not providing for a sound basic education.
Katherine Draper and Alice Tsier
For their ongoing support and coordination of our work globally on behalf of the Center for Reproductive Rights, a women's reproductive rights and health NGO.
Walter Ciacci, Dominique Forrest, Laura Grai and Lindsay Heck
For ongoing work on a class-action lawsuit against the State of Michigan on behalf of children with learning disabilities in the Flint, Michigan school district who have been affected by the Flint water crisis.
Isaac Glassman and Owen Pell
For their work representing the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany.
Poonam Gupta and Susan Klutch
For a sustained commitment to supporting pro bono clients with immigration needs.
Dimitrios Drivas, Jayashree Mitra and Brendan Woodard
For representing the State of Germany in death penalty proceedings concerning a German citizen on death row in the State of Tennessee.
Melinda Baglio, Sylvia Chin and Elena Millerman
For leading a global research study with Goldman Sachs and Women's World Banking on women entrepreneurs' access to capital and collateral.
Kelly Bonner, So Yeon Cho, John Forbush (Washington, DC) and Jayashree Mitra
For contributing an amicus brief, on behalf of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, to a Supreme Court case upholding firearms restrictions for those convicted of domestic violence.
Magalie Desince and Kerrie Spennicchia
For longstanding research support on our global rule of law research projects.
Isaac Glassman and Eric Majchrzak
For their efforts in a criminal appeal which led to a unanimous reversal of our client’s conviction in the New York Court of Appeals.
Kenneth Caruso
For supervising several criminal appeals matters and longstanding support of the global pro bono practice.
Nida Jafrani
For assisting The Day After Association, an NGO promoting democracy in Syria, with research on extra-territorial jurisdiction as it relates to human rights violations and international crimes and for assisting with research on behalf of the Public Interest Law and Policy Group.
Claire Jordan
For advising The Solution Lab Inc. on employment matters, including compensation structure and employment agreements, research on behalf of the Center for Reproductive Rights, and a second-parent adoption representation.
Jorett Joseph
For representation of the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation in taking measures against the perpetrator of a copycat website.
Rita Masino
For overall support of the pro bono practice in the New York office and work on a variety of pro bono matters.
Elzbieta Matthews
For work on a variety of pro bono matters, including one involving the representation of two young victims of sexual abuse in a civil case against their abuser, a former Philadelphia priest, who traveled to Honduras to meet with the boys over several years.
Lisa Mittwol
For work on behalf of the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation and for managing a gender-based violence case-law database project for the Cornell Center for Women and Justice.
Jennifer Paradise
For leadership in developing and delivering legal ethics training to law students in Russia and Ghana.
Neeraj Shah
For work on behalf of a variety of pro bono clients such as Gilda's Club of NYC, the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, and Africa Rising.
Mike Smith
For pro bono leadership work on behalf of a range of organizations, including Carnegie Hall, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, and Acumen, an NGO fighting poverty worldwide.
Kathryn Swisher
For her work on behalf of several domestic violence survivors referred by NYC nonprofit Her Justice.
Neto Waite
For work on a variety of pro bono matters, including advice to the International Center for Advocates Against Discrimination (ICAAD), a human rights NGO, on the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.
Amy Waterfield
For representation of a married Afghan couple in negotiating the sale of rights for the production of a documentary film on their story, and for assisting with related legal needs.
Nur-Sultan
Zarina Baikenzhina
For contributing to a global study on financial inclusion policies for the Alliance for Financial Inclusion.
Marat Ibragimov
For work on behalf of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan.
Dina Nugmanova
For contributing to a global study on financial inclusion policies for the Alliance for Financial Inclusion and assisting the UN Joint Office on the Prevention of Genocide and the Responsibility to Protect on a project to assess the criminalization of atrocity crimes worldwide.
Paris
Bertrand Liard, Ludovic Malgrain, Arthur Merle-Beral and Anastasia Pitchouguina
For drafting a handbook for Secours Populaire, an NGO fighting poverty in France. The handbook is designed to help refugees reunite with their families upon arrival. It provides legal advice as well as useful information on how to find one's way through administrative procedures and access necessary documents.
Bertrand Liard, Ludovic Malgrain, Arthur Merle-Beral, Anastasia Pitchouguina and Hinda Rabkin
For assisting Agir Contre la Prostitution des Enfants, an NGO that combats child prostitution and abuse, as well as several plaintiffs, in a variety of court proceedings.
Clara Hainsdorf, Alexandre Ippolito, Guillaume Keusch, Claire Lavarde, Jean-François Le Corre, Ludovic Malgrain, Michael Polkinghorne and Alexis Tandeau
For spearheading the Paris office's broad-based pro bono support of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The office has consistently assisted the humanitarian organization by: securing MSF relationships with suppliers and local employees, providing IP advice, helping to develop an effective governance model, and helping to prevent and settle disputes in France and abroad, with companies or public authorities.
Samuel Bourg
For providing legal advice to the Epic Foundation, an NGO that drives funding to organizations devoted to a variety of social causes.
Edwige Fowo
For work on a variety of global pro bono projects including matters for Women Enabled International, Center for Reproductive Rights, and the Pan African Lawyers Union.
Cenzi Gargaro
For his work drafting a global Green Bonds template term sheet to bring standardization to the global Green Bonds market in line with efforts by the G20.
Hadia Hakim
For work on behalf of a range of organizations, including refugee NGO MADRE, sustainability NGO EDGE for Lebanon, and two NGOs focused on women's empowerment: Women Enabled International and Women's World Banking.
Olivier Le Bars
For contributing to a study on global water governance for Waterlex, an official UN water partner working to promote sustainable water governance worldwide.
Anne Sophie Oberreiner
For assisting The Vance Center for International Justice and the NYC Bar Association's International Human Rights Committee with research on engagement with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and for assisting Women Enabled International.
Prague
Marek Dosedel and Karel Petrzela
For representing Post Bellum, an NGO that raises awareness about the Postwar and Communist eras, in a case before the Czech Constitutional Court protecting freedom of information. Based on their decisive memorandum, the Constitutional Court rejected a proposal by the Supreme Court that would have voided a part of the Czech Archives and Records Management Act which facilitates access for historians to documents from the Nazi and Communist eras.
Tereza Becanova
For support and coordination of pro bono efforts in the Prague office.
Ludek Chvosta Jr
For ongoing assistance of the Czech branch of global NGO SOS Children's Villages, which provides services to neglected and orphaned children. He helped structure a public fundraiser and provided tax advice as well as assistance with donation agreements and accounts. He has also contributed legal advice in the areas of privacy protection and labor law.
Tomáš Hejný
For assistance on a variety of matters related to SOS Children's Village, an NGO providing services to neglected and orphaned children. Tomas was instrumental in reviewing a series of contracts entered into between SOS Children's Villages and film producers in preparation for an upcoming documentary about foster children and parents. Additionally, he assisted the office in providing legal advice on contracts for the provision of PR and media services, defending the interests of our client by implementing a robust veto structure regarding press releases prepared by the contracted media agency.
Renata Ryglova
For work on a variety of pro bono matters, including legal advice relating to a documentary film project about the Terezin ghetto and concentration camp, NGO the Good Angel, and SOS Children's Villages.
Riyadh
Waad Alkurini
For providing fundraising and data protection advice to global NGO Save the Children as it expands fundraising activities in the Middle East.
Sao Paulo
Lisa Cossi
For contributions to a gender-based violence database for the Cornell Center for Women and Justice Project and for assisting The Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment.
Abraham Paul
For contributing to a research project on minimum-age laws affecting children for Child Rights International Network.
Seoul
James Lee and Catherine Yoon
For drafting a memo analyzing best practices in the protection and promotion of smallholder farmers based on comparative state practice on behalf of the Public Interest Law and Policy Group.
Shanghai
Yinghua Li and Patrick Yu
For work on a variety of pro bono matters, including a global research study in collaboration with Goldman Sachs and Women's World Banking on women entrepreneurs’ access to capital and collateral, and advising World Wildlife Fund on Project Red Panda, an environmental investment project focusing on China.
Silicon Valley
Gabrielle Hodgson
For work on a variety of pro bono matters, including Global Network Initiative, Avaaz, and the formation of social enterprise Building on the Best.
Singapore
Lilian Ting and Krystle Yau
For providing legal training to students in Myanmar on behalf of Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia Community Legal Education Initiative.
Charles Bailey
For work on a variety of pro bono matters, including a global study on financial inclusion policies for the Alliance for Financial Inclusion and the establishment of an endowment to finance the Bird's Head Seascape in Indonesia.
Jon Bowden
For general pro bono leadership, and for contributions to a report for Liberty Asia on anti-trafficking legislation across Asia.
Thomas Flynn
For work for a variety of pro bono clients, including Global Network Initiative, Iridescent, and research on women entrepreneurs' access to capital and collateral for a pro bono collaboration between White & Case, Goldman Sachs and Women's World Banking.
Bella Khabbaz
For work on a variety of pro bono matters, including legal research on the recognition of paralegals globally for Namati and providing legal training to students in Myanmar on behalf of Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia Community Legal Education Initiative.
Cavan Reilly
For spearheading the preparation of a report for Liberty Asia on anti-trafficking legislation across Asia, and for overall pro bono coordination and support in Singapore.
Stockholm
Edward Jansson
For researching the criminalization of atrocity crimes on behalf of the UN Joint Office on the Prevention of Genocide and the Responsibility to Protect.
Seiran Sinjari
For leading a partnership with Microsoft to create a program offering legal advice on employment, education and small business start-ups to refugees granted residence in Sweden. Individuals seeking assistance will be assigned a lawyer from Microsoft or White & Case who will offer up to 10 hours of free consultation and assistance.
Johan Thiman
For assisting the Pontis Foundation, a Slovakian NGO, in researching legislation on personal insolvencies, particularly for the homeless or those under threat of being homeless, and for contributing to a global research project on behalf of the British Institute for International and Comparative Law.
Tokyo
Yu Babasaki, Fumika Cho, Ayako Kawano, Hiroyuki Koda, Mamiko Kuwajima, Seiji Niwa and Karl Pires
For major assistance to the Japan Association for Refugees in representing a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo in petitioning for asylum in Japan.
Kazushi Morita
For assistance on behalf of Médecins Sans Frontières and supporting New York NGO Transportation Alternatives with an analysis of traffic statutes, adjudication practices, and policies that affect pedestrians and bicyclists in Japan.
Michael Richter
For his pro bono support and coordination of pro bono and social responsibility efforts in the Tokyo office.
Warsaw
Tomasz Chmal
For assisting a variety of pro bono clients , including Polska Akcja Humanitarna, the Zacheta Art Gallery, Transparency International, and pro bono support and coordination in the Warsaw office.
Nicholas Coddington
For advising Advocates for International Development in connection with the preparation of a booklet for UK-based NGOs to enable them to consider how to access EU funding post-Brexit.
Katarzyna Czwartosz
For contributing to a gender-based violence case-law database for the Cornell Center for Women and Justice.
Katarzyna Grodziewicz
For advising Fundacja Tuwima, a foundation serving disabled and terminally ill children living in Poland, on IP-related issues and license agreements.
Jerzy Oppeln-Bronikowski
For work on a variety of pro bono clients, including the Polish Modern Art Foundation, Zacheta Art Gallery, and the Kosciuszko Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting educational and cultural exchanges between the US and Poland.
Grzegorz Wasiewski
For providing legal advice to a number of pro bono clients, including Kosciuszko Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting educational and cultural exchanges between the US and Poland; the Zacheta Art Gallery; Kazimierz Moczarski Foundation, an organization that spreads awareness about the work of this historic Polish writer; and a global research project for NGO EDGE for Lebanon.
Mateusz Zawistowski
For work on behalf of a variety of pro bono clients including Polish Humanitarian Action, the Zacheta Art Gallery, and Kosciuszko Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting educational and cultural exchanges between the US and Poland.
Washington, DC
Delia Arias De Leon, Gabriela Baca, Andrew Black, James Gossman, Max Hyman, January Kim, Charise Naifeh and Frank Schweitzer
For their work on a successful asylum case for a young woman fleeing El Salvador. The client not only received asylum in the United States but is now on her way to receiving a work permit, social security number and eventually US citizenship.
Ena Cefo, Alex Collett-Echevarria, David Courchaine, Patrick Dorsey and Luca Winer
For research on behalf of the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance regarding the treatment of bisexual applicants under U.S. asylum law, intended to determine whether asylum applicants who identify as bisexual may apply under a particular social group of "bisexuals," and what evidentiary obstacles they may face in proving their case.
Chauncey Bratt, Eric Chung, Dana Foster, Allen Kogan, Nicolle Kownacki, Kathryn Mims, Andrei Popovici and Raquel Sloan
For their representation of a Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi in defending an action seeking to prevent him from operating a university student-outreach program. The case has evolved from an employment-law case to a case of first impression on First Amendment religious freedom.
Lee Czocher
For providing outstanding representation to a pro bono client in challenging his criminal conviction, on grand-jury and eye-witness grounds.
Sonia Murphy
For leadership of a class-action suit filed in partnership with Equal Justice Under Law, challenging Ferguson's debtor's prisons.
William Barrett and Vivake Prasad
For support of a class-action suit filed in partnership with Equal Justice Under Law, challenging Ferguson's debtor's prisons.
Jorge Rubio
For his work on a global study of paralegal recognition for international NGO Namati.
Ajita Shukla
For contributing to legal research, briefing papers and an advocacy guide on the rights of women and girls with disabilities for Women Enabled International.
Fredrick Wilson
For providing outstanding representation to a pro bono client in challenging his criminal conviction, on a variety of grounds.
Multi-office teams
Lauren Fujiu-Berger (Los Angeles), Kim Haviv (New York), Amara Levy Moore (Los Angeles) and Alice Tsier (New York)
For successful impact litigation with the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington State against a public hospital district that refused to provide services mandated by the state's Reproductive Privacy Act.
Joan Tan (Hong Kong) and Cecile Yang (New York)
For coordinating a team effort across Asia and the US on developing model articles on social enterprises for WYNG Foundation, a Hong Kong educational and philanthropic NGO.
Khawla Al Atiyat (Abu Dhabi), Eileen Cole (Washington, DC), Hadia Hakim (Paris) and Chloe Wiatrowski (Dubai)
For representing an Iraqi family from Mosul seeking refuge in the US; the client's brother was an interpreter for the US Army and lives in North Carolina.
Charise Naifeh (Washington, DC) and Kerry Perri (New York)
For assisting Worldwide Orphans in the resolution of a will dispute with a hospital. In a successful cross-office partnership, they prepared several rounds of client memos and legal briefs to defend against the hospital's will contestation petition. The hospital accepted our client’s first settlement offer.
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