City Bar Justice Center to Honor Five Columbia Law School Alumni for Pro Bono Service
New York, October 14, 2014—Five Columbia Law School alumni will be honored as outstanding pro bono volunteers for the City Bar Justice Center (CBJC) at an Oct. 20 awards ceremony and reception.
The CBJC is the nonprofit affiliate of the New York City Bar Association and provides pro bono legal services to low income clients.
This year, five of the 11 recipients of the Jeremy G. Epstein Awards for Outstanding Pro Bono Service are Columbia Law School graduates. They are: Elisa A. Alcabes ’88, senior counsel at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; Livia M. Corredor ’84, co-director of legal affairs at Forest City Ratner Companies; Marianne M.N. Jensen ’90, an attorney at Maurice Kassimir & Associates; Melissa C. Monteleone ’11, an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; and Katriana G. Roh ’11, also an associate at Paul Weiss. The awards honor pro bono service on CBJC projects and are presented annually during National Pro Bono week in October.
Pro bono projects at CBJC include cancer advocacy, consumer bankruptcy, elder law, foreclosure, immigrant outreach, immigrant women and children, LGBT advocacy, homelessness, neighborhood entrepreneur, planning and estates law, refugee assistance, and veterans’ assistance.
“This year’s Epstein Award winners managed to juggle busy legal practices with outstanding pro bono service, helping to bridge the justice gap by providing much-needed assistance to New York’s poor and disadvantaged,” said Lynn M. Kelly, City Bar Justice Center’s executive director.
The awards are given in honor of Jeremy G. Epstein, a partner at Shearman & Sterling and a board member at the City Bar Justice Center, The Legal Aid Society, and the Fund for Modern Courts. Epstein, who passed away in 2009, logged over 5,000 hours of pro bono and public service over 20 years.