Squire Patton Boggs is proud to announce the winners of its annual Pro Bono Awards.
The firm also celebrated the 15-year anniversary of its Public Service Initiative (PSI), a project of full-time lawyers in the U.S. dedicated to handling complex and resource-intensive criminal justice matters in jurisdictions where indigent clients have limited access to legal counsel. As a free-standing public interest law project housed within a major international law firm, PSI’s structure combines criminal justice litigation representation, public policy reform and related public education.
“We are incredibly proud of the range of important issues our colleagues across the globe undertake for pro bono clients and remain unified in our commitment to providing access to justice in the legal system.” said Chair/Global CEO Mark Ruehlmann.
US Award Winners
Special Recognition – The Public Service Initiative for Outstanding Accomplishments in Pro Bono for 15 years. Accepted by George Kendall.
The firm’s criminal justice project – known as the Public Service Initiative (PSI) – is celebrating 15 years since its founding at the firm. The team is comprised of three lawyers and a paralegal and has successfully litigated capital punishment and life imprisonment criminal cases for indigent clients involving a miscarriage of justice and/or a denial of fundamental rights. PSI adopts a strategy of broad-based advocacy on behalf of its clients that can include individual and impact litigation, policy reform and media advocacy.
Partner of the Year – Rafael Langer Osuna (San Francisco)
Rafael successfully tried a pro bono asylum case to an administrative law judge, assisted a family-owned business to settle satellite TV piracy claims, and represented the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights San Francisco in its Freedom of Information requests to the city of Sacramento and its police department regarding their treatment of Black Lives Matter protestors. In addition, Rafael supplied an amicus briefing on behalf of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, to challenge anti-trans executive actions in Texas.
Counsel/Principal of the Year – Alex Shumate (Columbus)
Alex assembled and led a team of financial services and corporate attorneys to create a nonprofit entity aiming to support economic equality. The team helped advise and strategize on entity formation matters. They also prepared draft charter documents that would give the group the structure and organization it needs, while also allowing for flexibility to anticipate future growth.
Associate of the Year – Christina Lamoureux (Washington DC)
Christina represented two Central American minors in Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) proceedings, including preparing and representing them during a custody hearing which resulted in a successful ruling for the clients’ family members to obtain custody over them. Christina is involved in the Squire Patton Boggs Foundation, where she previously served as head of the mentorship subcommittee and remains a committee member.
Pro Bono Support Person of the Year – Eric Rojas (Los Angeles)
Eric was the administrator for the firm's New Voices legal clinic where the firm assisted over 12 women founders from disadvantaged communities with their legal issues. Eric helped to set up those matters and also tracked the approximately 50 applications received for the clinic and follow up actions.
US Pro Bono Team of the Year – Kyle Fath, Alan Friel, Gicel Tomimbang (Los Angeles), Kyle Dull (Miami)
The team supported the Startup Legal Garage program through the Center for Innovation at the UC College of the Law San Francisco. Startup Legal Garage is a clinic where law students can gain experience advising startups on various issues under the supervision of volunteer attorneys. The team supervised two law students advising Tiny Docs, LLC, a startup providing health education videos for children, on general privacy matters and issues related to children’s and health data privacy arising under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
International Award Winners
Partner of the Year – Lucy Webster (London)
Lucy has fostered a close working relationship with the Legal Afghan Working Group, a charity supporting Afghan judges and senior legal professionals to develop their knowledge of English law, language and professional skills to help them reestablish their careers in the UK, having fled persecution in their country. Lucy has also worked closely with the Global Sustainability Benchmark in Sports, a not-for-profit working towards greater transparency and sustainability in the sporting industry and hosted the launch of the organisation’s 2023 Annual Report event at the London office.
International Pro Bono Team of the Year – Tatiana Prokopová, Katarína Ottová, Lenka Landro (Bratislava)
The team provided Pro Bono legal services to a Slovak citizen in a precedent-setting medical malpractice indemnification claim that resulted in the medical laboratory settling the case. Shortly afterwards, the First Instance Court decided in favour of our client and granted financial compensation to her and her family.
Of Counsel/Director/Senior Associate of the Year – Dagmar Nolden (Frankfurt)
Dagmar has provided employment law advice to Villekula e.V., a non-profit association based in Germany providing health, environmental and nutrition education for children and young people. Dagmar has also developed connections within the German Pro Bono community via Pro Bono Deutschland e.V. She is also a Pro Bono committee member in the Frankfurt office.
Associate of the Year – Emma Lu (Sydney)
Emma’s work has included preparing submissions to the European Court of Human Rights relating to the rights of prisoners and inpatients in Swiss hospitals and prisons to access vegan meals. She has assisted a First Nations mother with her application for criminal injuries compensation relating to family domestic violence offences, a matter referred to the firm by Women’s Legal Service Western Australia. She has also prepared information sheets for the National Justice Project’s Tech4Justice initiative.
Support Staff - Noemi De Micco (Milan)
Noemi provides administrative support to Pro Bono partner co-ordinator Daniela Sabelli and the Pro Bono team in the Milan office. She takes part in network events and identifying nonprofit association roundtables which have Pro Bono panels.
More information regarding Squire Patton Boggs’ pro bono services can be found here.