American Bar Association Honors Elena Park of Pennsylvania with 2011 Pro Bono Publico Award for Outstanding Service

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 27, 2011 — Elena Park, a lawyer with Cozen O’Connor, will be recognized with one of five 2011 Pro Bono Publico Awards from the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service.

Park, who for nearly 10 years has provided pro bono legal counsel and representation to the indigent on complex immigration matters, will receive her award at noon on Aug. 8 at the Pro Bono Publico Awards Assembly Luncheon during the ABA Annual Meeting in Toronto.

“The difference between good and great lawyers is that great ones make a difference in society. That’s fundamentally what pro bono does. It is crucial to taking on this country’s appalling lack of access to justice, without which there is no rule of law,” said ABA President Stephen N. Zack. “These awardees represent the best of our profession. This award appropriately honors their work,” he continued.

President Zack will present the 2011 awards. The keynote speaker for the luncheon is David Jacobson, the U.S. ambassador to Canada.

The Pro Bono Publico Awards honor individuals or organizations in the legal community that enhance the human dignity of others by improving or delivering volunteer legal services to the poor or disadvantaged.

Park, who regularly devotes more than 200 hours of pro bono time a year to her pro bono immigration practice, is driven by the desire to assist undocumented immigrants and to help develop and support immigration rights advocacy infrastructure in her community. Park has volunteered a considerable amount of time teaching, educating, mentoring, lobbying and supporting pro bono agencies that help indigent clients on immigration matters. As an active member of her firm’s Pro Bono Committee and program, she has worked with Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Volunteers for the Indigent Project and the ACLU.

Park’s efforts have been recognized by the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation (Pro Bono Award, 2011), Pennyslvania Bar Association (Pro Bono Award, 2007 and 2010; Contribution to the Legal Community, 2010) and the media (Legal Intelligencer, 2007; Thomson Reuters, December 2008).

Park is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Asian Bar Association, the International Association of Korean Lawyers, the American Bar Association and the Montgomery Bar Association.

She received her Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from the University of Toronto and received her law degree from Temple University Beasley School of Law, where she was articles editor of the Temple Political & Civil Rights Law Review.

More information on the Pro Bono Publico Awards and the 2011 recipients is available here.

With nearly 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world.  As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law.

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