2020 Pro Bono Award Winners

Pro Bono Attorney of the Year: Jennifer Abrams
Law Firm of the Year: Hutchison & Steffen
Lied Award for Most Hours for Law Firm: The Dickerson Karacsonyi Law Group
Lied Award for Most Cases for Law Firm: Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie, Hutchison & Steffen, & Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck
Lied Award for Most Hours for Attorney: Bethany L. Rabe
Lied Award for Most Cases for Attorney: Marshal Willick
William S. Boyd Award of Excellence: AT&T
Justice Nancy Becker Pro Bono Award of Judicial Excellence: Honorable Mark Gibbons
Myrna Williams Children’s Pro Bono Award: Jason Ferris
Public Interest Law Student of Distinction: Christian Gonzalez Perez
Ask-A-Lawyer Community Commitment Award: Larry Phillips & Carlos Morales

50 Hours Club                           100 Hours Club

 

Pro Bono Attorney of the Year

Jennifer Abrams

Since we first began presenting the Pro Bono Awards, our most prestigious individual award has been our Pro Bono Attorney of the Year. This award recognizes an attorney whose life and practice over the past year serves as a singular inspiration to others to embrace or renew a dedication to pro bono legal service on behalf of our most vulnerable. This year’s recipient took her first CAP case just over a year ago. She wasted no time at all jumping in with both feet. Since that time, she has represented seven very young children, including two sibling groups and three preverbal babies. Just over the past year, her first year as a CAP attorney, she donated over 320 hours of her time representing these children. Her amazing dedication to her clients and willingness to get involved in a huge way, despite a very demanding practice, distinguishes her from her peers this year. Congratulations to our 2020 Pro Bono Attorney of the Year, Jennifer Abrams.

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Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year

Hutchison & Steffen

This year’s recipient of the Law Firm of the Year Award goes to a firm with a truly exemplary commitment to pro bono and access to justice. The firm’s Las Vegas team contributed over 600 hours this year, an impressive accomplishment for an office with fewer than 45 attorneys. Amazingly, they had three of their attorneys in the 100 Hours Club! This firm is active in several of our programs, including the Nevada Supreme Court Appellate Program, our CAP program, and with consumer and family law cases. We are honored to present the 2020 Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year Award to Hutchinson & Steffen.

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Lied Awards

Lied Awards are given in recognition of the Lied Foundation Trust, a foundation that has significantly contributed to our organization for more than a decade. We recognize firms and individuals who excelled in their pro bono efforts.

Most Pro Bono Hours Law Firm

The Dickerson Karacsonyi Law Group

The Lied Award for Most Pro Bono Hours by a Law Firm goes to a firm that has successfully institutionalized a culture of giving back, embodying the highest ideals of the attorney’s professional responsibility of pro bono service. This firm consistently makes pro bono an integral part of their culture and identity. Over the past year, this firm donated hours of pro bono legal work through the Pro Bono Project, claiming the number one spot for number of hours. In light of this tremendous contribution, we are pleased to present the 2020 Lied Award for Most Pro Bono Hours by a Law Firm to The Dickerson Karacsonyi Law Group, whose attorneys contributed an amazing 1,037 hours of pro bono on behalf of Legal Aid Center clients.

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Most Pro Bono Hours Attorney

Bethany L. Rabe

This year’s Lied Award for Most Pro Bono Hours by an attorney goes to an attorney who makes pro bono a core part of her practice. She has done considerable asylum work as well as defending copyright infringement claims brought by trolls in federal court. In fact, over the past year, this graduate of the US Air Force Academy volunteered over 500 hours to helping her pro bono clients! Congratulations to the Lied Award Winner for Most Pro Bono Hours by an Attorney, Bethany L. Rabe, of Counsel at Greenberg Traurig.

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Most Pro Bono Cases Law Firm

Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie, Hutchison & Steffon, & Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

This year, we are thrilled to be able to recognize three firms that went above and beyond in terms of taking on new pro bono matters. Our winners each accepted 13 new pro bono cases this past year in a variety of areas of law, including landlord-tenant, CAP, consumer, bankruptcy, federal, probate, divorce and custody, name change, adoption, and Nevada Supreme Court appeals. We are pleased to present the 2020 Lied Award for Most Pro Bono Cases by a Law Firm to Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie, Hutchison & Steffen, and Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.

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Most Pro Bono Cases Attorney

Marshal Willick

This year’s recipient has been a consistent, tremendous supporter of pro bono for decades. His exemplary dedication to serving Legal Aid Center and its clients is unmatched. This past year he accepted nine new cases from Legal Aid Center’s Pro Bono Project. We are pleased to present our 2020 Lied Award for Most Pro Bono Cases by an Attorney to Marshal Willick.

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Justice Nancy Becker Pro Bono Award of Judicial Excellence

The Honorable Mark Gibbons

This year’s award goes to a giant in the legal field. Following a distinguished career in private practice, this jurist has spent over 24 years in the Nevada judiciary, first as a district judge, then as a Supreme Court Justice, including serving as the Chief Jurist at both levels. He showed signs of his legal intellectual prowess quite early when he graduated from law school at only 23 and immediately entered private practice. His service as the Co-Chair to the Specialty Court Funding Committee has helped to ensure nearly every community in Nevada has access to a specialty court program. He co-chaired the Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure Committee to ensure the judicial process was accessible through the electronic means so relied upon in our modern society. He worked tirelessly on the Rules for the Nevada Supreme Court mediation program, which gave Nevada homeowners a fighting chance to save their homes. He has been a stabilizing influence on all he has done because of his intellect, his demeanor, and his caring for all Nevadans. There has never been one occasion where he doesn’t think about the unmet legal needs of the community in making a decision. His character, work ethic, and commitment will be missed as he retires from the Nevada Supreme Court. We are pleased and honored to give this year’s Nancy Becker Judicial Award of Excellence to Justice Mark Gibbons.

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William S. Boyd Award of Excellence

AT&T

This year’s recipient committed its philanthropy and leadership to impacting homeless and at-risk youth. They reached out to us because they knew of our strong advocacy for kids. We were beneficiaries of their AT&T Believes Las Vegas campaign; they provided grant funding for us to represent teenagers and seed funding for us to launch a new mobile app for at-risk teens called “RISE.” Teens in need don’t read manuals, they go online to find services. Thanks to AT&T, our app, RISE, will provide accurate, quality information and resources at their fingertips. Clark County Social Services and Legal Aid Center have prepared the content, and thanks to AT&T, it’s about to become a reality. For their leadership and commitment to Legal Aid Center and our most vulnerable clients, this year’s William S. Boyd Award of Excellence goes to AT&T.

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Myrna Williams Children’s Pro Bono Award

Jason Ferris

This year’s recipient started his career with a preeminent Silicon Valley law firm and is a highly experienced litigator at both trial and appellate levels. Over the past few years, he has taken on over a dozen CAP cases. This past year alone, he billed 286 hours on five different CAP cases. His commitment is undeniable. For his remarkable advocacy on behalf of children, this year’s Myrna Williams Children’s Pro Bono Award goes to Jason Ferris of Luh & Associates.

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Public Interest Law Student of Distinction

Christian Gonzalez Perez

The Public Interest Law Student of Distinction Award recognizes a law student who has made a substantial commitment to the community by doing public interest work and promoting access to justice. Our recipient is a recipient of the State Bar of Nevada Professional Development Fellowship who has worked extensively with our organization helping those needing immigration assistance. He has helped more than 100 people renew their DACA permits, all on a volunteer basis. Through it all, he never failed to light up whatever room he was in with his infectious smile, putting clients and colleagues alike in a positive frame of mind. For his dedication to public service and pro bono, it is our great pleasure to present this year’s Public Interest Law Student of Distinction Award to Cristian Gonzalez Perez.

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Ask-A-Lawyer Community Commitment Award

Larry Phillips & Carlos Morales

Over the course of the last year, Larry Phillips served an astounding 20 sessions of Landlord-Tenant Ask-A-Lawyer, serving nearly 90 landlord-tenant clients in real dire need! He also took a direct representation pro bono matter during the year. In addition to his ongoing direct representation pro bono case, Carlos Morales served an incredible 130 family law clients with pressing legal matters over the course of the 24 Ask-A-Lawyer sessions he staffed, providing essential information when few other options were available for panicked clients seeking urgent counsel. For their incredible contributions, we are delighted to be able to honor Larry and Carlos for their dedication to providing consistent, urgent counsel to our community’s hardest hit during the past year.

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50 Hours Club

Ashlee Vazquez
Dan R. Waite
David A. Stephens
Janet L. Merrill
Linda Lam Lay
Kevin R. Diamond
Mary Tran
Brian Blakley
Erik J. Foley
Tara K. Young
Brandon P. Johansson
Chelsie A. Adams
W. West Allen
Michael P. Carman
Piers Tueller
Mona Kaveh
Jason B. Sifers
Kerry J. Doyle
Brittnie T. Watkins
Shirley A. Derke
Tracy A. DiFillippo
Gian A. Brown
Emily M. McFarling
Warren R. Markowitz
Jason Onello
Sydney Gambee
Nathan E. Lawrence
Jordan J. Butler
Marckia L. Hayes
William D. Nobriga
Bradley S. Schrager
Therese M. Shanks
James A. Beckstrom
Jeremy R. Robins
Tiffany Kahler
Nicholas J. Klein
Kyle A. Ewing
Carol M. Gilbert
Kimber L. Laux
L. Edward Humphrey
Josephine Groh
Royi Moas
Brandi M. Planet
Ava M. Schaefer
Marshal Willick
Richard L. Crane
Adrienne R. Brantley-Lomeli
Rikki J. Hevrin
Andrew L. Kynaston
Emily A. Ellis
Doreen Spears Hartwell
Robert A. Ryan
Christopher M. Humes
Stephanie J. Glantz

100 Hours Club

Gina C. Session
Brittany L Walker
Kevin B. Christensen
Lynn S. Fulstone
Nicholas R. Shook
Stephen Swinton
Paul C. Williams
Christopher Mixson
Jennifer Golanics
A. Jill Guingcangco
Josh M. Reid
Dana R. Walsh
Gia N. Marina
Michael Kind
Alina M. Shell
Daniel H. Stewart
Jon T. Pearson
Shannon R. Wilson
Lisa A. McClane
Meng Zhong
Paola M. Armeni
Robert P. Dickerson
Dean Jason Ferris
Alisa Steinhauer
Hayden R.D. Smith
Dawn Hathaway Thoman
Carl A. Lindstrom
Jennifer V. Abrams
Yasnai C. Rodriguez-Zaman
Jonathan Chung
Raelene K. Palmer
Bethany L. Rabe