Congratulations to the Empire State Counsel 2023 Outstanding Pro Bono Volunteer Awards and the Law Firm Honorees being awarded at the Justice for All Luncheon on January 18, 2024.
Outstanding Pro Bono Volunteer Award Winners
Lawlor F. Quinlan, III
Lawlor Quinlan, a partner at CONNORS LLP in Buffalo, is a trial attorney with a broad-based litigation practice. He has successfully represented severely injured individuals, defended physicians in medical malpractice trials, represented corporations in contract and shareholder derivative suits, represented policy holders in insurance coverage disputes, and represented individuals, corporations, institutions, and municipalities in a wide variety of other matters. The notable client successes in which he has been involved include a $58.6 million verdict in favor of an injured athlete in 2003, which was ranked that year as one of the top 10 verdicts nationally by Lawyers Weekly USA.
For his trial and appellate work in various fields of law, Lawlor has received several honors. He is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers. For several years, he has been listed in Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers. He is also a past president of the Western New Trial Lawyers Association.
Lawlor has provided pro bono representation through the Erie County Bar Association’s Volunteer Lawyers Project. For his work representing indigent clients seeking asylum and other relief from the Immigration Courts, Lawlor received the New York State Bar Association President’s Pro Bono Service Award in 2017. He is currently representing women in two different cases seeking relief from convictions that resulted from their being sexually trafficked. Lawlor has served as a volunteer and Board Member of the Response to Love Center, a community outreach center which focuses on the holistic treatment of poverty in Buffalo.
Lawlor earned his B.A. with high honors from the University of Notre Dame’s Great Books Program, and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.
Anne C. Reddy, Esq.
Anne C. Reddy is an of counsel in Greenberg Traurig, LLP’s New York office. Anne focuses her practice on complex civil litigation matters, including false advertising, white collar, non-compete, bankruptcy, environmental law, and contract litigations before federal and state courts.
She is experienced in large-scale complex litigations and supervising multiparty electronic discovery.
Throughout her career, Anne has been committed to pro bono advocacy and supporting communities in need. She has represented clients who were separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico Border, individuals facing the death penalty, a Native American organization providing AIDS/HIV prevention service seeking 501(c)(3) status, and guided the New York chapter of a major international religious organization navigate the complexities of local churches splintering off to form new or doctrinally divergent organizations. Anne also serves the state of New York through her role as counsel supporting the 12 commissioners of the New York State Commission on Judicial Nomination, where she has spent more than eight years researching candidates for a seat on New York’s highest court.
Before becoming a lawyer, Anne graduated from Hunter College with a Master of Fine Arts degree, specializing in figurative painting and spent her early years working with the American Indian Higher Education Consortium.
She is a graduate of Brooklyn Law School and served as Senior Law Clerk for the Hon. Judith S. Kaye, Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals.
Law Firm Honorees
Barclay Damon has a proud history of giving back to the communities we serve, with an emphasis on using our skills, time, and ingenuity to narrow the gap between those in need who seek legal assistance and access to justice. Our commitment to pro bono work runs deep and is a critical part of the firm’s core culture.
Since 2017, every one of the law firm’s full-time attorneys, working with firm paralegals, has provided pro bono legal services to low-income individuals in the communities we serve.
In the last completed year, the firm dedicated more than 2,500 hours of time valued at nearly $850,000 to pro bono efforts, with attorneys and paralegals actively participating in firm-sponsored family court clinics, litigating civil rights violations, drafting wills for veterans, assisting with clemency applications, and providing online legal aid through initiatives such as the American Bar Association’s Free Legal Answers program. The firm’s investment in communities across its office platform supported legal matters involving many of today’s critical issues, including immigration, housing, women’s rights, prisoners’ rights, community building, and economic development, among others.
As a firm that has been in existence since 1855, a strong commitment to pro bono service has been a priority for Barclay Damon at every stage of the firm’s development. Now a leading law firm with offices across the Northeastern United States and in Toronto, the firm has more reason than ever to give generously of our time, talent, and passion for pro bono service.
We are honored that our work is frequently recognized by our peers at organizations across the state, and we extend our great thanks to the New York State Bar Association for today’s honors—both for our attorneys and for the many other attorneys at firms throughout the state who dedicate themselves to helping the most needy among us find justice.
Learn more about our award-winning pro bono program at barclaydamon.com/pro-bono.
Davis Polk has ranked among the premier law firms with practices that are world class across the board. Our professionals collaborate seamlessly across practice groups and geographies to provide our clients with exceptional service, sophisticated advice and creative and practical solutions that reflect a deep understanding of the full legal landscape, market practice and our clients’ businesses and objectives.
Our extensive cross-border experience coupled with the diversity of our professionals and our top-flight local law capabilities allow us to bridge business, cultural, language, legal and regulatory differences across jurisdictions.
Pro bono work is a core responsibility of Davis Polk. We are committed to serving the public good and providing legal services to those who cannot otherwise obtain legal representation. Our lawyers work on pro bono matters throughout their careers at the firm, and we champion pro bono work through partner mentoring, training opportunities and the commitment of resources.
Legislative overreach, global upheaval, and economic and housing insecurity are fueling an unprecedented need for pro bono legal services. Nixon Peabody recognizes the significance of this crucial moment. Our attorneys and legal professionals tirelessly direct their time, energy, and experience to make a positive impact for people in need, logging more than 27,000 hours of service in our most recent fiscal year.
Our pro bono service focuses on three core areas: Equity for people whose rights are under attack; access for our neighbors and friends from marginalized communities; and opportunity in the places where we live and work. Recently, we have achieved major victories for Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban, transgender clients seeking equal treatment under state law, military veterans seeking benefits they earned through service to our country, and disabled students who were denied important educational resources.
In addition, Nixon Peabody recently held our second annual Week of Service—dozens of collaborative service projects and pro bono activities in communities across the country, with a particular focus this year on the issues of housing, housing insecurity, and the rights of the unsheltered. As home to one of the nation’s largest Affordable Housing practices, Nixon Peabody recognizes that safe, stable housing is the cornerstone of strong communities, and we are proud to join our community partners in efforts to ensure that more people have access to this vital resource to meet their basic need.
Pro bono work has been an important commitment for Phillips Lytle throughout its 185+ history. Across all of our nine offices (six of which are in New York State), our nearly 170 attorneys are dedicated to providing legal services to the poor, the disadvantaged and those in need. The legal services the firm provides also benefit organizations and institutions that assist the indigent and contribute to the quality of life in our communities. This work includes civil and criminal matters, and non-litigation legal assistance, ranging from matters that broadly impact communities, to representation of those in need in high-volume court settings, to complex individual case representations. As the firm plans for the future, pro bono services remain one of its core values.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP strongly encourages its lawyers, summer associates, and professional staff to work on pro bono matters for individuals and groups that are unable to afford legal services. The firm is a charter signatory to the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge, whereby Skadden pledges that attorneys and summer associates from its domestic offices will dedicate time equivalent to at least 3% of their annual billable hours to pro bono matters.
In 2022, attorneys from Skadden’s domestic offices dedicated 7.1% of time billed to pro bono. Firmwide, Skadden personnel recorded more than 200,000 hours of pro bono work from December 1, 2022, through November 15, 2023.
Deeply ingrained in the firm’s culture, pro bono work provides vital help to a wide variety of individuals and organizations in need of legal assistance. Skadden attorneys regularly assist those seeking asylum in the U.S. and elsewhere in their attempts to escape persecution due to religious or political beliefs or sexual orientation. The firm’s attorneys handle many cases for death row inmates; take on numerous matters involving wrongful imprisonment and prosecution, housing disputes, veterans matters, family law and micro-entrepreneurs. Attorneys frequently provide legal assistance to legal services organizations and other nonprofits on a wide variety of issues including corporate governance, intellectual property, real estate, employment and potential and actual mergers.
Willkie is an elite international law firm of approximately 1,200 lawyers located in 13 offices in six countries. Among the hallmarks of our core values and culture is our long-standing commitment to serving the underprivileged, promoting social justice, and supporting the communities in which we live and work. Through the Firm’s Pro Bono Committee, we offer attorneys of all levels many opportunities to provide pro bono legal advice and support to underserved individuals, communities, and organizations. In 2022, Willkie attorneys worked on more than 560 pro bono matters with over 190 new pro bono matters opened in 2022 alone.
Willkie provides pro bono legal services across a range of areas, including criminal, environmental, family law, immigration, LGBTQ+, racial justice, reproductive rights, veterans’ assistance and voting rights. As part of Willkie’s continued effort to devote significant pro bono resources to address systemic issues affecting marginalized communities, the firm partners with many legal services organizations dedicated to bridging the access to justice gap through legal support and advocacy.
2023 Free Legal Answers™ Volunteer Attorney Award
Arthur Allen Katz, Esq.
Arthur A. Katz, an experienced transactional attorney, has specialized in corporate matters for over 50 years for large and small public and private companies in various industries including, among others, the computer, consulting, cosmetics, e-commerce, electronics, employment, entertainment, gaming, medical device, merchandising, oil servicing, pharmaceutical, retailing and textile industries.
Mr. Katz has represented Boards of Directors, as well as their various committees, including Special Committees and Audit Committees, and has advised on corporate governance and other similar matters. Mr. Katz also has advised Boards of Directors, Audit Committees and executive officers on various aspects of Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance and has led investigations regarding compliance with that Act as well as with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and related matters.
Mr. Katz had his initial training as a securities lawyer and has been involved in Federal and state securities matters for public companies, as well as for various entities desiring to engage in a public or private distribution of debt and equity securities.
Among other things, Arthur Katz is a member of the U.S. patent and trademark bar and has been involved in various corporate, licensing, financing, protection of proprietary information and other tasks for numerous clients, as well as for entities whose principal assets consist of intellectual properties.
Mr. Katz received his undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where a substantial portion of his advanced work was at the Sloan School and received his law degree from New York University. Before attending law school, Mr. Katz did graduate work in economics and business at Yale University and served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers where he commanded an air mobile engineering construction company engaged in various civil engineering and related projects.
Mr. Katz has received several leadership awards for his alumni activities on behalf of MIT, has written a bi-monthly column for an educational publication, has been selected by the New York State Bar Association and the American Bar Association as an honoree for his pro bono activities and is rated AV Preeminent (the highest level of professional excellence) by Martindale-Hubbell for his legal expertise and ethical standards.
2023 Free Legal Answers™ Law Firm Award
With over 900 lawyers in the United States, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP serves clients across a broad range of complex transactional, litigation, and regulatory matters. We are known for our strength in the energy, financial services, real estate, and retail and consumer products industries, as well as our considerable experience in more than 100 distinct areas of practice, including privacy and cybersecurity, intellectual property, environmental, and mergers and acquisitions.