President Peggy Sheahan Knee welcomed everyone to the 110th Annual Meeting and Convention at today's Opening Business Session.
The 2009 Individual NJSBA Pro Bono Award was presented to Arnold L. Natali Jr. Mr. Natali has been one of the guiding lights in advancing pro bono service at McCarter & English since 1995. He has dedicated hundreds of pro bono hours to impoverished and disenfranchised immigrants who seek political asylum in the United States as a result of political and religious persecution and physical torture.In 2005, Mr. Natali was elected Chair of the Pro Bono Committee at McCarter & English. In this capacity, he supervised over three hundred pro bono cases involving family law, tenant's rights, guardianship proceedings, asylum hearings, eath penalty appeals, employment law and civil rights.
Thee Wyeth Law Department Pro Bono Program received the 2009 Pro Bono Award for an organization providing pro bono services. Pharmaceutical giant Wyeth has been a leading participant with the Pro Bono Partnership's efforts in providing corporate and transactional legal services to 501(c)(3) public charities. After intiating a successful pro bono program for Legal Services of New Jersey, Wyeth expanded it own pro bono program to provide corporate and transaction legal advice to nonprofit corporations serving underserved communities. The impact of Wyeth's pro bono work has been dramatic for those assisted. The groups served by Wyeth include homeless shelters, literacy programs, services for foster children and families, domestic violence programs, groups educating low-income populations about disease risk and screening, childcare centers, legal services providers to the poor, and nonprofits providing entrepreneurial training to individuals in low-income areas. The pro bono assistance provided by Wyeth has allowed these nonprofits to develop greater internal capacity and strength, which in turn allows them to provide their services to their underserved clients.
YLD Chair Kimberly Yonta Aronow presented this year’s YLD awards:
Amy Sara Cores, Esq. was named the Young Lawyer of the Year. Ms. Cores has taken on two pro bono projects over the past several years on top of those assigned to her by the courts. She is an active participant in the Appellate Division Pro Bono Pilot Program and has specifically limited her representation to the victims of domestic violence. Amy is also listed on the U.S. Department of State attorney network to handle international child abduction matters based upon her work with the International Child Abduction Attorney Network. Amy is an avid writer and responsible for reviving the YLD Dictum newsletter; and as an active member of the Family Law Section, also serves as editor of the New Jersey Family Lawyer and the Family Law Section e-Newsletter.
Service to the Community was awarded to Jonas Seigel, Esq. Mr. Siegel has always been community oriented having volunteered at soup kitchens, food banks, and homeless shelters. Prior to law school graduation, Jonas took off his last semester and joined Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans, Louisiana where he spent four month living in an abandoned school and building homes for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. On Jan. 1, Jonas became a partner at Seigel Law Firm in Ridgewood, and his first action as a partner was to form the Seigel Law Firm Charity Fund. The firm sets aside $100 from their fee upon the resolution of each case into a charity fund. At the end of each year, the firm will choose a local charity to be the beneficiary. Settling approximately 150 cases each year, a charitable donation of approximately $15,000 is anticipated each year.
Service to the Bar was presented to Christina Vassiliou, Esq. Ms. Vassiliou is an enthusiastic and active leader in the NJSBA Young Lawyers Division and the American Bar Association, and was this year named ABA Young Lawyers Division "Star of the Quarter" for her organization of a national summit for young lawyers. Christina is a member of the State Bar Meeting Arrangements and Program Committee, Membership and Public Relations Committee, and Treasurer of the YLD.
The Professional Achievement Award was presented to Jonathan Lomurro, Esq. This past year, after application by Mr. Lomurro to get a diagnosed defendant suffering from paranoid schizophrenia into pre-trial intervention, the State denied entrance. A Monmouth County Superior Court judge granted the appeal of the denial for entrance. The State appealed to the Appellate Division and remanded for trial in a published opinion, State v. Hoffman, 399 N.J. Super. 207 (App. Div. 2008). Without wavering from the denial of the PTI program, the matter proceeded to trial. Jonathan's client was found not guilty by reason of insanity after a bench trial. Jonathan also co-tried a personal injury matter with Michael Schottland in Ocean County that returned a $2.5 million verdict. Jonathan is panelist for the YLD 101 Series and the NJSBA Administration Forum.
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