Pro Bono Spotlight: 2012 has been another winning year for VLSP

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Today, you have the opportunity to ROC the Day for Volunteer Legal Services Project of Monroe County Inc. and other agencies in the Telesca Center for Justice. Stop by for a complimentary lunch from noon till 2 p.m. at the Monroe County Bar Association’s CLE room, on the fifth Floor of the Telesca Center, and make a donation by credit card.

If you prefer, donate online at www.roctheday.org/TelescaCenterforJustice. Donations benefit VLSP, the Foundation of the MCB, Empire Justice Center, MCLAC and the Young Lawyers Section.

Your donation will help VLSP build on our successes.

VLSP is a nationally recognized leader in pro bono legal services. What does it take for small agency in a mid-sized city to rise to such prominence?

Extraordinary volunteers and dedicated staff.

This year, as in years past, VLSP’s volunteers and staff garnered attention for the exceptional quality of services delivered and innovative programs and initiatives.

In January, 16 of VLSP’s volunteer attorneys were honored as 2011 Empire State Counsel by the New York State Bar Association at its annual meeting. NYSBA members who donated 50 or more hours of pro bono service in 2011 qualified for the honor.

VLSP’s 2011 Empire State Counsel honorees are: Craig Carson; Dwight Collin, Penny Dentinger, Patrice Morrison and David Schraver of Nixon Peabody; Megan Dorritie, F. Paul Greene and Langston McFadden of Harter Secrest & Emery; Mab Fitz-Gerald; Michael Law of Phillips Lytle; Victoria Lagoe; Lucien Morin II of McConville Considine Cooman & Morin; Victoria Gleason and Elizabeth Wolford of the Wolford Law Firm; Javier Tapia of Woods Oviatt Gilman; and Laura Taylor.

Each year, VLSP nominates volunteers for NYSBA’s President’s Pro Bono Service Award and the American Bar Association’s Pro Bono Publico Award. This year, lightning struck twice!

First, Morin, a partner in the firm of McConville, Considine, Cooman & Morin, was selected as the President’s Pro Bono Service Award winner for the Seventh Judicial District. He was recognized for his substantial pro bono contributions at NYSBA’s Law Day Luncheon in Albany.

Morin cleared the backlog of VLSP bankruptcy cases awaiting placement, not once but twice, accepting a total of 26 pro bono bankruptcy cases between October 2008 and February 2012. He was moved by the plight of formerly middle class people, single mothers and seniors struggling more than ever to make ends meet in the wake of the 2008 economic meltdown.

While quietly and diligently working to eradicate the bankruptcy case backlog, Morin continued to volunteer for VLSP’s Debt Collection Advice Clinic, providing instruction and brief advice and counsel to numerous clients.

In addition, the Hon. Henry J. Scudder, presiding justice, and the attorneys and staff of the Appellate Division, Fourth Department were honored by the American Bar Association as one of five 2012 Pro Bono Publico award winners. The award was presented at the ABA’s annual meeting in Chicago.

Justice Scudder was honored for developing and implementing New York state’s first — and to date, only — pro bono and volunteer service policy for appellate court employees. Fourth Department volunteers render pro bono service on VLSP’s consumer law hotline, and also assist with clinics and accept case referrals. 

Like the NYSBA and the ABA, VLSP presents pro bono awards — the William E. McKnight Volunteer Service Awards. The award is presented annually at the Monroe County Bar Association’s Law Day luncheon to volunteer attorneys whose pro bono service reflects the commitment to equal justice exemplified by the late Bill McKnight. A member of VLSP’s first panel of volunteers at the time of his untimely death, McKnight was the first African-American partner at Nixon Hargrave (now Nixon Peabody). 

The 2012 McKnight Award winners are: F. Paul Greene and David Wilks of Harter Secrest & Emery; Frank Howard; Patrice Morrison of Nixon Peabody; and Robert F. O’Connell of Petralia, Webb and O’Connell.

In addition to our wonderful volunteers, VLSP and its staff received several awards this year.

VLSP was honored to receive the biennial Family Friendly Employer award, presented jointly by the Greater Rochester Association for Women Attorneys and the Monroe County Bar Association. VLSP’s staff of 10 collaborated on the award nomination, which highlighted accommodations made for employees juggling the demands of parenthood and/or providing care for aging family members.

VLSP’s executive director, Sheila Gaddis, was honored by the National Association of Pro Bono Professionals as the Pro Bono Professional of the Year. Gaddis received her prestigious award at the ABA’s Equal Justice Conference in Jacksonville, Fla.

Marlene Attardo, VLSP’s staff kinship care attorney, received the 2012 Michael F. Dillon Attorney for the Children Award. Attardo was selected as a Seventh Judicial District honoree, together with Robert Turner, a dedicated VLSP volunteer. Attardo was nominated for the award by the Hon. Dandrea Ruhlmann, Monroe County Family Court judge.

VLSP’s staff health law attorney, Ann Williams, was honored with the 2012 Supportive Provider award by the Rochester Area Taskforce on AIDS. Williams conducts quarterly wills clinics at AIDS Care and recruits and trains volunteer attorneys to accept case referrals for seriously ill clients in need of wills, health care proxies and powers of attorney.

Mary Beth Conway, VLSP’s staff family law attorney, was a recent recipient of Alternatives for Battered Women’s Stop the Hurt Award. Conway conducts legal clinics for ABW residents, addressing difficult and emotional legal issues. Conway also provides trainings for ABW’s staff.

With such talented and dedicated volunteers and staff, it’s easy for VLSP to take its programming to the next level with clinics that help low-income clients navigate new laws and innovative events for volunteers.

VLSP was pleased to partner with the Legal Aid Society of Rochester, MCBA, GRAWA and the Rochester Black Bar Association on a clinic to assist young people applying for the new Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Twenty-eight volunteer attorneys and three volunteer interpreters turned out on Oct. 20 — a Saturday — to assist 19 young DACA applicants. Rochester’s well-attended and well-staffed DACA Clinic was one of the first to be held outside New York City. According to New York Secretary of State Cesar A. Perales, Rochester will serve as a model for other upstate cities.

VLSP continued to break new ground by presenting a panel discussion entitled “Walk a Mile in the Shoes of a VLSP Client” co-sponsored by MCBA, GRAWA and RBBA. Offered as Rochester’s contribution to the ABA’s 4th annual National Celebration, the event was hosted by Harter Secrest & Emery on Oct. 25.

Prior to attending the panel discussion, volunteers were asked to visit www.playspent.org and play a fast-paced 10 minute game involving the sort of difficult choices many low income people make every day.

For example, what do you do when you have a toothache, but can’t afford a dentist? When you have to choose between paying bills or buying food? When your child needs a tutor, but you can’t afford one?

Once again, VLSP found itself in good company. The ABA featured our poverty simulator event, as well as similar events held in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Chicago, on its National Celebration of Pro Bono website, www.probono.net/celebrateprobono/.

Attorneys offering their insights as panelists for “Walk a Mile in the Shoes of a VLSP Client” were: Spencer Ash, municipal attorney, City of Rochester Law Department and president of the RBBA; Rashondra Martin, associate counsel, Rochester City School District Department of Law; Raul Martinez, Faraci Lange LLP; Lucien A. Morin, II, McConville Considine Cooman & Morin, PC; Karen Bailey Turner, Brown & Hutchinson; and Sharon Underberg, assistant general counsel, vice president, Legal Department, Eastman Kodak Company.

VLSP thanks all of our wonderful volunteers who stepped up throughout 2012 to help low-income people cope with a wide range of issues including foreclosure settlement conferences, bankruptcy, wills, name changes, unemployment insurance benefits denials, immigration, grandparent/non-parent child custody, adoption, child support and divorce. Please come back and see us in 2013!   

November 2012 Honor Roll

Judge: The Hon. Patricia Marks (ret.).

Solo Practitioners: Stefanie Barnes; Frank Beretta; Karen Smith Callanan; Paloma Capanna; Craig Carson; Mark Drexler; Mark Funk; William Neild; Robert Stiles; Ellen Tomasso; Gary Van Graafeiland; Paul Watkins.

Attorneys and paralegals at firms: Raul Martinez, paralegal Elsa Trotto (Faraci Lange); Ernest Ferullo (Gates & Adams); Margaret Catillaz, Kathleen Cummins, Diana Clarkson Holl, Frank Novak, Christine O’Connor, Jodi Reynolds, David Wilks (Harter Secrest); Kevin Bambury (Jeffrey Freedman Attorneys at Law); Jennifer Fazio (Kaman Berlove); David MacKnight (Lacy Katzen); Laurie Giordano (LeClair Korona Giordano Cole); Lucien Morin, II (McConville Considine Cooman & Morin); Kristin Cavatassi (Morgenstern DeVoesick); Terrance Brown-Steiner (Odorisi Law Firm); Hope Olsson (Olsson & Feder); Kristin Jonsson (Pellittiere & Jonsson); Jennifer Lunsford (Segar & Sciortino); Steven Carling (Underberg & Kessler); Robert Hooks (Woods Oviatt).

Government attorneys: Rachelle Hoeflschweiger, Jesslyn Holbrook, Katherine Kenney, Carrie Scrufari, Jennifer Townsend (Appellate Division, Fourth Department); William Taylor, Sherri Wood (Monroe County).

Corporate paralegal: Patricia Carey (Thomson Reuters).

Mediator: Robert Hauser (Center for Dispute Settlement).

J.D.s: Kristin Corsi, William Kalish, Kelly Ochs, Matthew Pineo.

Ph.D.: Chika Anyichie.

Paralegal students: Stephan Bledsoe (Bryant & Stratton); Christine Bobowski, Rachel Dowling, Meg Ethier, Talisha Mason.

VLSP intern: Matthew Smith (Ashford University).

Linda Kostin is the Pro Bono coordinator at Volunteer Legal Services Project of Monroe County Inc. Contact her at [email protected] or (585) 295-5703. Like the VLSP Facebook page at www.facebook.com/vlsproc; follow VLSP on Twitter: #VLSP_Rochester