2023 Samuel E. Klein Pro Bono Awards

Anna Avilés-Alfaro, a senior paralegal in Dechert’s Washington, D.C. office, is a passionate advocate for clients needing assistance with immigration matters, working pro bono on numerous asylum cases, t-visa cases (involving survivors of human trafficking), and u-visa cases (involving those who are victims of violent crimes). Her work on these immigration cases has included assisting with applications, serving as a Spanish translator, and managing communications with clients, helping to ensure that their cases remain on track and providing immeasurable support.

Maëlle Chausse, an associate in the labor group in Dechert’s Paris office, has used her employment and privacy law expertise to help countless nonprofit clients, providing advice on matters including employment contracts, data privacy breaches, and GDPR compliance. Ms. Chausse discusses her role in helping to launch Inspiring Girls – a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising the aspirations of girls around the world by connecting them with female role models from all walks of life – in France. She advised Inspiring Girls on employment issues and coordinated efforts to assist with issues including structuring, tax and data protection.

A London-based team advised longstanding community partner UnLtd on the creation of the Growth Impact Fund – a new potential £25 million social investment fund designed to level the social investment playing field. As a joint venture between UnLtd and Big Issue Invest, the fund was developed with a number of stakeholders and social entrepreneurs of diverse genders, ethnicities, ages, and those with disabilities, and was designed for diverse led social enterprises working to address poverty and inequality in the UK. Team members included Jonathan Angell, Daniel Hawthorne, Ces Manoy, Thiha Tun, and James Stonehill.

Since 2019, Dechert has been working with the Innocence Project to screen applications it receives for assistance, ensuring people get access to justice. A core team – including Jessica Bula, Nicole La Due, James Figorski, Jacqueline Harrington, Nicole Keller, Jonathan Streeter, Bert Wolff, and Lindsay Zanello – has led our efforts, which have involved over 250 attorneys and paralegals and resulted in the screening of 70 cases, some of which the Innocence Project has agreed to take on.

David Higgins, a senior associate in Dechert’s Dublin office, played a central role in shaping and developing the Dublin office’s participation in the KIND Ireland project – a collaboration of the Irish Refugee Council and the Immigrant Council of Ireland – which assists teenage refugees from Afghanistan and Somalia who have arrived in Ireland alone to apply for family reunification and bring their families to join them in Ireland. David's efforts – which involve almost every lawyer in the Dublin office – have created a great model for pro bono engagement.

New York-based litigation partner Jeff Brown and paralegal Jennifer Maldonado discuss their efforts – working with a multi-firm team and Sanctuary for Families Incarcerated Gender Violence Survivors Initiative - to secure the dismissal of murder charges filed against Tracy McCarter, a New York City nurse and domestic violence survivor, who was wrongfully charged with murder after stabbing her estranged husband in self-defense.

Litigation associate Rachel Rosenberg, who helps lead the pro bono practice in Dechert’s Philadelphia office, discusses her involvement in a wide variety of pro bono projects, including trying to verdict a prisoner’s civil rights case, serving as a member of the team challenging Oklahoma’s abortion laws, representing the Pinelands Preservation Alliance in its successful effort to protect the New Jersey’s Pinelands from a gas pipeline construction project and organizing local legal aid clinics.