Appleseed Honors Steve Schulman for Pro Bono Leadership

(Washington, D.C.) – Steven H. Schulman, leader of the pro bono practice at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, has received the Pro Bono Leader Award from Appleseed. The award was presented at the organization’s Raising the Pro Bono Bar event, held on October 8 in Washington, D.C.

In honoring Mr. Schulman, Appleseed praised him as “one of the country’s leading immigration attorneys,” citing his work on the organization’s Assembly Line Injustice report, a groundbreaking project to reform U.S. immigration courts, and lauding his experience and insight as “invaluable resources.”

Mr. Schulman joined Akin Gump in 2006 as the firm’s first full-time pro bono partner. Since his arrival, participation in the pro bono practice has increased substantially in every office, with Akin Gump lawyers now devoting, on average, more than 85 hours annually to pro bono client matters. Under Mr. Schulman’s leadership, the firm has also built strong relationships with local and national legal services organizations, and has developed significant experience in several areas of pro bono practice, including representing charter schools, working with refugees and victims of human rights abuses, and providing legal counsel to military personnel and their families.

In addition to leading the pro bono practice, Mr. Schulman maintains a substantive practice in many areas of public interest law, including human rights, immigration, assistance to military personnel and poverty law matters. He has handled dozens of asylum and other immigration cases.

Mr. Schulman received his B.A. cum laude in 1989 from Brandeis University and his J.D. cum laude in 1994 from the Northwestern University School of Law. He is a member of the Washington Council of Human Rights First, the legal advisory board of the Capital Area Immigrant Rights Coalition and the board of directors of Buildable Hours, a law firm partnership with Habitat for Humanity. He served as co-chair of the ABA Section of Litigation Pro Bono and Public Interest Litigation Committee (2002-2005) and on the ABA Commission on Immigration (2004-2005). He is an adjunct professor at both Stanford Law School and the Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches seminars on law firms and pro bono practice.

In addition to honoring Mr. Schulman, Appleseed presented the Good Apple Award to Latham & Watkins’ Jim Rogers, the Pro Bono Champion Award to Latham & Watkins LLP and the Social Justice Advocate Award to The Raben Group.

Founded in 1945, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, a leading international law firm, numbers more than 800 lawyers and advisors in the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

# # #