On June 11, Venable honored the firm's attorneys who provided pro bono services in 2024 and announced the winners of the Benjamin Civiletti Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year Awards. This year, the Pro Bono Committee recognized five individuals and a team of six Maryland attorneys who embody the spirit of service epitomized by former Venable partner and U.S. Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti.
Washington, DC associate Léa Mano received a Civiletti Award for successfully representing the local nonprofit Generation Hope in obtaining over $200,000 in payments that its previous landlord had promised to provide. In her acceptance speech, she encouraged other associates to get involved in pro bono work early in their careers.
"In addition to being our best antidote to complacency, pro bono service is also perhaps the best way to gain the kinds of hands-on experience you can't always plan for," she said.
Baltimore associate Juliana Coppage received her award for serving on the Venable team that advocated for the civil rights of a former inmate who was brutally beaten at Maryland's North Branch Correctional Institution. Coppage also encouraged her fellow attorneys to get involved in the firm's Pro Bono program sooner rather than later.
"Don't make my mistake and wait for a good time. There is no such thing," she said. "The pursuit of justice is not always convenient. Justice requires sacrifice. Justice won't wait for a good time."
Pro Bono Chair Warren Hamel, Civiletti Award recipient Juliana Coppage, Civiletti Award recipient Léa Mano, and Pro Bono Coordinator Tina Goldy.
New York associate Taskeen Aman earned her award for working on a variety of pro bono cases spanning immigration, veterans' rights, copyright, and prison reform. In presenting the award, partner Bob Schwartz pointed to Aman's work with the widow of a Navy veteran who is fighting to receive his disability benefits that were denied during his lifetime. She spoke of the support she has received in her life and the importance of giving back "to people who often face it all alone… and who deserve someone standing right beside them in the face of injustice."
San Francisco associate Zoe Gallagher won her Civiletti for serving as lead counsel in two prisoners' rights cases involving individuals who were violently assaulted while incarcerated. She spoke of how her client Ernesto "spent the first 20 years of his sentence being the image of rehabilitation" before guards forced him to enter the exercise yard where dozens of inmates were waiting to beat him up.
"What's so special about advocating for Ernesto is that it's something that only a lawyer can do," she said. "These days, being a lawyer comes with a lot of baggage, to say the least, but using my license to try and change someone's life… is so validating and fulfilling, and ultimately I think is the right thing to do."
During her first week at Venable, Civiletti winner and Baltimore associate Laura K. Grant joined a team representing incarcerated individuals with mental illnesses who were being held in unconstitutional solitary confinement in Maryland state prisons. She said the work has helped her grow as a lawyer and allowed her to collaborate with great lawyers and gain hands-on experience.
A team of attorneys in Venable's Towson and Baltimore offices (partners Anne-Thérèse Béchamps and David Karceski; counsel Adam Rosenblatt; and associates John Goodridge, James Moxley, and Matthew Rutkowski) were presented with an award for helping the Assistance Center of Towson Churches (ACTC) purchase a new headquarters building. ACTC provides food and financial assistance to prevent eviction and utility shut-off and is a major distributor for the Maryland Food Bank.
Pro Bono Chair Warren Hamel honored the Venable attorneys who provided at least 50 pro bono hours in 2024, announcing that the firm will be awarding attorneys custom lapel pins for providing 50 or 100 pro bono hours in a given year. In 2024, 78 attorneys provided 50 to 99 hours of pro bono work to clients, while 39 contributed 100 or more hours. Together, 468 attorneys, along with 61 paralegals and other non-legal staff, provided clients with 23,800 pro bono hours in 2024.
Keynote speaker and former U.S. Senator Doug Jones of Alabama stressed the need for truth and justice, saying, "a couple of heroes of mine who happened to be lawyers" embodied those qualities.
Hamel closed the event with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr: "True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice."
He added, "I'd like to think our pro bono efforts bring the presence of justice to our communities, our country, and the world."
