Kasowitz Attorneys Receive Legal Aid Society 2022 Pro Bono Publico Award

The Legal Aid Society has honored a team of Kasowitz Benson Torres attorneys with a 2022 Pro Bono Publico Award.  Each year, The Legal Aid Society confers Pro Bono Publico Awards on attorneys and law firms in recognition of outstanding achievements in rendering pro bono services for low-income New Yorkers. 

Kasowitz partners David J. Abrams and David E. Ross and associates Stephen P. Thomasch and Yarden Hodes were honored for their amicus curiae brief, filed on behalf of The Legal Aid Society, Lawyers For Children and the Children’s Law Center, in Elisa W. et al., v. City of New York, et al., an appeal from the denial of certification of a class of individual children in foster care in New York City, who alleged that under the city’s foster care system, they unlawfully are forced to wait years for permanent placements and suffer abuse and mistreatment.  

In the brief, filed in April 2022, the Kasowitz team argued for reversal of the District Court’s ruling denying class certification of children in foster care in New York City.  The brief argued that, if upheld on appeal, the District Court’s overly narrow interpretation of class certification standards would jeopardize the viability of children’s rights class actions in the Second Circuit, and thereby deprive New York’s most vulnerable citizens of what is often their only avenue to vindicate their rights to basic liberties, including freedom from harm while in government care.

The awards ceremony were held on October 25, 2022 in New York.  View the complete list of 2022 Pro Bono Publico Awardees. 

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.  We encourage our attorneys at all levels to handle pro bono and other public service matters in any area in which they are interested.