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New York State Bar Association recognizes Brooklyn’s Volunteer Lawyers Project

April 5, 2017 By Rob Abruzzese Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Claire Gutekunst, president of the NYS Bar Association, presents Sidney Cherubin, director of legal services at the VLV, with the 2017 Angelo T. Cometa Award. Photo courtesy of the NYSBA
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The New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) has recognized the Brooklyn Bar Association’s Volunteer Lawyers Project (VLP) with the 2017 Angelo T. Cometa Award during a ceremony earlier this month in Albany.

“I applaud the work of the Brooklyn Volunteer Lawyers’ Project,” said Elena Jaffe Tastensen, chair of the State Bar’s Committee on Lawyer Referral Service. “Countless low-income New Yorkers, who otherwise would have been unrepresented, have been served by the Brooklyn Volunteer Lawyers Project, and their network of pro bono attorneys.”

The VLP has worked since 1990 to provide pro bono legal service to Brooklynites who lack the financial means to hire an attorney. In 2016, the VLP trained and supervised more than 500 volunteer lawyers and other professionals, who intern provided 12,400 hours of free legal service in family law, elder law and consumer law cases.

Sidney Cherubin, director of legal services, accepted the award on behalf of the VLP. The annual award recognizes individuals or groups within New York state that “demonstrate extraordinary commitment toward advancing the goals of the lawyer referral and information service.”

“The VLP would like to thank the NYSBA and the Lawyer Referral Service Committee for this wonderful honor,” Cherubin said in his acceptance speech. “The VLP thanks Rosanne Hiebert, director of the Brooklyn Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service and Clara Schwabe, partner at Kordes & Schwabe PLLC and VLP volunteer, for nominating us for this award.

“Referrals are an important part of the work of the VLP,” Cherubin continued. “Everyone that comes into the VLP or calls the VLP is not necessarily eligible to receive services, so it is important to have services like the Brooklyn Lawyer Referral Service and Pro Bono Net as a source for referrals and connecting vulnerable New Yorkers with much needed legal assistance.”

The award is named for Angelo T. Cometa, who was the president of the New York State Bar Association from 1990 to 1991. It was under his leadership that the NYSBA created its Lawyer Assistance Program, Pro Bono Department, which is now known as the Department of Law Practice Management. In 2007, he was honored with his namesake award.

 

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