Akin 2023 Pro Bono Awards Spotlight Outstanding Work by Lawyers and Staff

On July 18, Akin held its Pro Bono Awards, organized every July to recognize the excellent pro bono work performed by the firm’s lawyers and business services professionals.

As in previous years, chairperson Kim Koopersmith hosted the firmwide ceremony, with pro bono partner Steven Schulman, which was followed by separate office-level ceremonies held in select Akin offices.

The individuals, teams and matters recognized at the firmwide ceremonies were:

Office of the Year – Los Angeles. In 2022, nearly every lawyer in the firm’s L.A. office worked on pro bono matters, with the office on pace to reach 150 pro bono hours per attorney—an office record.

Practice Group of the Year – Intellectual Property. ​In 2022, IP became the first Akin practice group ever to have 100 percent of its lawyers each reach at least 20 hours of pro bono service, with the group counseling nonprofits and small businesses on IP matters and representing clients in vital asylum, criminal defense, parole, family law and veterans’ benefits matters.

Litigation Matter of the Year – Arnold v. Barbers Hill ISD. ​​​​For three years, the pro bono litigation team has fought on behalf of its clients, two Black students who wear their hair in dreadlocks, against a discriminatory hair grooming policy that saw them facing expulsion if they didn’t cut their hair. Alongside the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Akin team sued the school district and secured a preliminary injunction allowing one of our clients to return to school; the other plaintiff had already graduated. Trial is slated for this fall, but a larger victory was won when the Texas state legislature passed the Texas CROWN Act, prohibiting race-based hair discrimination in the state’s workplace, school and housing policies. Our clients have been cited repeatedly as inspirations for this law.

Transactional/Counseling Matter of the Year – Ukraine Refugee Response. ​​​Following last year’s win by the team that worked tirelessly to evacuate Afghan employees of our client, the Center for Civilians in Conflict, this year, a team comprising Akin London and Dubai lawyers volunteered for Safe Passage International’s Ukraine Response Team and traveled with the organization to the Ukraine/Poland border to counsel refugees seeking to resettle in the U.K.

Associate of the Year – Miranda Dore. Miranda, a litigation associate in our D.C. office, began her Akin career as a Pro Bono Scholar. Since then, she has devoted to time to children and family law; served as a key player on the team that, in 2021, halted Florida’s anti-protest law; and, in 2022, worked to prepare a former Oath Keeper and now critic of that group, to testify before the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.

Counsel of the Year – James Crowley. James, labor counsel in our D.C. office, for more than two years served as the key advisor to our longtime partner organization the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, as it negotiated a labor agreement. James advised the Committee through negotiations, which enabled the management and union sides to reach a lasting agreement.  ​

Frank Reddick Partners of the Year – For the first time, the firm honored three partners in this category: New York financial restructuring partner Sara Brauner and litigation partners Katherine Porter and David Zensky. They led one of the largest pro bono matters in the firm’s history: the representation of the family members of the children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting. After this tragedy, InfoWars host Alex Jones claimed the shooting was a hoax, which led his audience to harass and stalk the grieving families. The families fought back and were awarded over $1.5 billion in judgments against Jones. In response, a number of Jones’ corporate entities sought bankruptcy protection, which is where the Akin team jumped in and won dismissal of the first set of cases and the lifting of the automatic stay in another, which allowed the judgments in the defamation cases to be entered. When Jones filed for chapter 11 himself, Akin was selected as pro bono counsel to the official committee of unsecured creditors, comprising the Sandy Hook families, and their fight for justice continues.

Julia Ghahramani Immigration Advocacy Award – Jessica Mannon. ​​Julia is a litigation counsel in the firm’s Dallas office who, in 2022, represented a mother and son seeking asylum after fleeing severe domestic violence in their native Honduras. Challenging case law made this an uphill battle, but Jessica quickly mastered the details and not only put together a compelling brief and evidence submission, but also undertook the task of preparing the traumatized client to testify about her abuse before the court. Thanks to her hard work and talent, Jessica won the case for her clients after two days at trial.

Diane Streat Award – Julia McEnroe. ​​A senior paralegal specialist in the firm’s D.C. office, Julia has also educated herself to become an immigration paralegal, schooled in the technical and logistical aspects of making filings before the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services and the immigration courts. In the process, she has become indispensable to our lawyers who rely on her knowledge and experience to help them navigate these filings for their pro bono immigration clients.

The firm was recently ranked at no. 22 in The American Lawyer’s annual Pro Bono Scorecard, which ranks the Am Law 200 according to average number of pro bono hours per U.S.-based lawyer and percentage of U.S.-based lawyers who performed more than 20 hours of pro bono work. To learn more about Akin Gump’s renowned pro bono practice, click here.