ABA Journal Spotlights Raphael Prober and His Pro Bono Work for Holocaust Victims

March 31, 2015

Reading Time : 1 min

Contact:

Jacinta O'Shea-Ramdeholl

Director of Communications

Sarah Richmond

Senior Communications Manager

In its article “This D.C. lawyer coordinated a massive pro bono effort on behalf of Holocaust victims,” ABA Journal profiled Akin Gump public law and policy partner Raphael Prober and his successful work on behalf of Holocaust victims and their survivors and heirs to obtain reparations and acknowledgement from the French government for the role that SNCF, the state railway service, played in the transportation of Jews and others to Nazi concentration camps.

Prober noted that his role involved overseeing “the efforts of more than 50 lawyers and lobbyists in several states, ensuring that every front—state and federal advocacy, negotiations and communications with the State Department, public relations, grassroots outreach, litigation—moved forward in concert toward the ultimate objective of providing reparations and some manner of justice to the survivors and their families.”

He noted that his own family had been affected by the Holocaust and also the “tremendous, sometimes overwhelming, sense of responsibility” to the survivors who had “suffered in such incomprehensible ways and were denied justice for so long, and they deserved it so richly.”

Prober said that, once the money is approved and appropriated by the French government, “it will be administered by the U.S. State Department based on the eligibility requirements of the agreement. My hope is that it will move along as speedily as possible, given the age of many of the survivors.”

He added that his next pro bono project involves working with the Washington Nationals Youth Baseball Academy, which “as a big baseball fan,” he finds particularly exciting.

 

Share This Insight

Related Services, Sectors, and Regions

© 2024 Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. All rights reserved. Attorney advertising. This document is distributed for informational use only; it does not constitute legal advice and should not be used as such. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Akin is the practicing name of Akin Gump LLP, a New York limited liability partnership authorized and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority under number 267321. A list of the partners is available for inspection at Eighth Floor, Ten Bishops Square, London E1 6EG. For more information about Akin Gump LLP, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and other associated entities under which the Akin Gump network operates worldwide, please see our Legal Notices page.