Kasowitz Attorneys Receive Legal Aid Society 2021 Pro Bono Publico Awards

The Legal Aid Society has honored four teams of Kasowitz Benson Torres attorneys with 2021 Pro Bono Publico Awards.  The awards recognize the outstanding work of volunteers who have provided exceptional legal services to low-income New Yorkers during the past year.

• Mark W. Lerner, Joshua D. Fulop and Jonathan L. Shapiro were honored for securing a $600,000 settlement for six personal care aides who had alleged that Scharome Cares, a home health care aide services agency, had violated their rights by failing to pay them for the hours they worked during multiple 24-hour shifts and overtime.  Read more here.
• Andrew R. Kurland, Michael D. Fuzaylov and Colin Moretti were honored for achieving excellent results for two clients who separately sought unemployment benefits before the New York State Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board. The first case resulted in a decision in favor of a former security officer who had been charged over $45,000 in alleged overpaid insurance benefits and penalties by the Department of Labor.  The second case resulted in the granting of unemployment insurance benefits to a single mother who had lost childcare benefits after she was denied a work accommodation and placed on unpaid leave. Read more here.
• David E. Ross, Andrew W. Breland and Anny Tichy were honored for securing a full and unconditional pardon from former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on behalf of a 61-year old Dominican woman who has lived in New York for more than fifty years, but faced a threat of deportation due to decades-old criminal convictions. Her childhood and young adulthood were a nightmare of homelessness, forced prostitution, and drug and sexual abuse at the hands of criminal gangs and other abusers.  Over the past thirty years, she has successfully recovered and has been a law-abiding and contributing member of her community. Read more here.
• Teresa Matushaj and Michael C. Pecorini were honored for representing a Brooklyn resident facing mandatory deportation in securing the vacatur of his 1996 conviction for criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree. 

The Legal Aid Society protects and defends the rights of low-income New Yorkers who need legal support and is one of the firm’s main pro bono partners.  Learn more about The Legal Aid Society. 

Kasowitz Benson Torres recognizes the importance of providing pro bono services to disadvantaged individuals and organizations unable to afford quality legal representation, and is committed to providing the same aggressive representation to our pro bono clients as we do to any other firm clients.  We encourage our attorneys at all levels to handle pro bono and other public service matters in any area in which they are interested.