American Bar Association Honors Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison with 2011 Pro Bono Publico Award for Outstanding Service

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 27, 2011 — Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison 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.

In 2010 attorneys at Paul Weiss devoted 54,984 hours of pro bono work, representing approximately 65 percent of the firm’s attorneys and 5.5 percent of the firm’s total hours. The firm, which increased its pro bono hours 50 percent since 2009, will receive its 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.

The scope of the firm’s pro bono work is extensive. Since 2009, the firm has represented clients as part of the City Bar Justice Center of New York’s Immigrant Women & Children Project, and has also represented immigrant victims of domestic violence and individuals seeking refuge from persecution from their countries of origin. Paul Weiss has also made a substantial commitment to achieving justice in other areas, including founding — along with another partner — a series of Veterans’ Legal Clinics in October 2007, to provide free legal advice to metropolitan-area military veterans. The firm has also partnered with the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Ala., to provide post-conviction representation to those who have received capital sentences in Alabama.

The firm has devoted significant legal resources to Human Rights First, the Brennan Center for Justice, and other groups on important impact matters on such issues as voting rights, same-sex marriage and the right to appointed counsel.

In 2010 alone, Paul Weiss and its individual lawyers were honored by The Legal Aid Society of New York City, Immigration Equality, Sanctuary for Families, the New York State Bar Association, DC Appleseed and the City Bar Justice Center for the breadth and scope of its pro bono work.

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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