JUNE 6, 2023 – Davis Wright Tremaine LLP was honored with the 2023 Excellence in Pro Bono Award from Legal Services for Children (LSC), recognizing the firm's decades-long dedication to representing in-need children and youth.
Accepting the award on behalf of the firm at LSC's annual event in San Francisco last week were Joanna Plichta Boisen, the firm's chief pro bono and social impact officer, and Vidhya Prabhakaran, partner in the San Francisco office and co-chair of the firm's energy practice. The award was presented by Cynthia Henning, LSC's pro bono director.
"The services LSC provide are life-changing for children and youth who need help the most," said Boisen. "It has been an absolute privilege to partner with such an extraordinary and effective organization and to collaborate with so many of our in-house clients to magnify the impact."
Davis Wright's pro bono and social impact department has partnered with dozens of in-house legal departments on pro bono projects that help BIPOC, marginalized, and at-risk communities. This past year, the firm organized a two-day clinic with LSC, joined by volunteers from Flynn Restaurant Group, Navy Federal Credit Union, Bloomberg, and T-Mobile, to support children's asylum petitions. The firm also created a first-of-its kind, two-day DACA clinic with LSC in partnership with Uber.
"These corporate partnerships are powerful on many levels, but perhaps most importantly because they allow us to deploy more advocates to help children in need," Boisen said at the award presentation last week. "Without these advocates, the scales of justice are unbalanced and equitable results are far lower."
In his remarks, Prabhakaran recounted his years-long work on behalf of a client named Victor, first helping him receive his U Visa and then his green card.
"Providing all of the documentation necessary to make his case was very difficult and would have been basically impossible for him to do on his own," said Prabhakaran. "Thankfully, he had the support of LSC and Davis Wright Tremaine. I'm deeply grateful for our seamless collaboration."
Stories like Victor's "serve as a poignant reminder," said Boisen, "of the transformative power lawyers possess in shaping a better world and giving children a voice and a chance at a far better tomorrow."
About Davis Wright Tremaine
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP is an AmLaw 100 firm with more than 600 lawyers representing clients based throughout the United States and around the world. The firm has been widely recognized for pro bono leadership and recently published its interactive 2022 Pro Bono and Social Impact Report, available here: https://probonoreport.dwt.design/.