For more than two decades, Venable has celebrated the public service leadership and selfless spirit of former firm chair and U.S. Attorney General Benjamin R. Civiletti by honoring employees who donate their time to help others in need. Last month, the firm continued the long-standing tradition, recognizing seven attorneys who forever changed the lives of pro bono clients ranging from poverty-stricken and abused inmates to undocumented immigrants, the elderly, and the disabled.
From the podium of the Civiletti Center in Washington, DC, Pro Bono chair Warren Hamel introduced the winners of the Civiletti Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year Award. He began with an update on the continued growth of Venable's pro bono program, announcing that in 2025 more than half of firm attorneys participated, contributing more than 26,700 hours of service.
Hamel then announced the first winners, a team of attorneys who dedicated countless hours over the last decade working on what has become known as the Arkansas Debtors' Prison Project.
Ten years ago, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights approached several law firms with concerns that Arkansas was running modern-day debtors' prisons. Venable attorneys headed to Faulkner County in central Arkansas, and their six-month investigation showed that individuals were being incarcerated for failing to pay fines and fees that they could not afford. And these were not isolated cases.
"In many instances, the system was not merely failing to prevent this outcome. It was actively producing it," Baltimore partner AJ Lynn said in accepting the award on behalf of the team, which included associates Alexander Belman, Thomas Naatz, and Evan Suval.
For years, the state trapped vulnerable Arkansans in endless cycles of debt and incarceration. Lynn recounted the experience of one person whose $75 seatbelt citation ultimately spiraled into thousands of dollars in fines and repeated incarceration, costing him his home, personal belongings, driver's license, and job.
"It's all too clear today that our legal rights are functional realities, not abstract principles," Lynn said in conclusion. "They determine whether poverty is treated as a circumstance or a crime, or whether someone sleeps at home or in a jail cell."
Following the presentation of the team award, partner Sarah Brooks received the first individual award of the afternoon. Speaking from the firm's Los Angeles office, she discussed her work representing undocumented immigrants detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Over the past year, Brooks and other attorneys she recruited have filed more than a dozen habeas corpus petitions seeking to release detainees on bond. Their efforts have resulted in 15 men being released back to their families.
In accepting her award, Brooks acknowledged that detention work was completely new to her a year ago. She had been representing children in immigration custody matters for a decade as a volunteer with Public Counsel, and she answered the call when the family of a nine-year-old former client sought her help getting the child's guardian out of detention. Brooks said that when she went to his apartment to get him a change of clothes, her former client hugged her.
"I felt like he thought I was a superhero, that I was going to swoop in there and get his dad out of detention," she said. "It was really emotional because I didn't know if I could do it… There's an immense amount of pressure to free a family's loved one from detention."
Public Counsel connected her with law school professors who helped devise a legal strategy. She filed a habeas petition, and her client was released. She put together another team to help a man arrested in the same raid. Following Sarah's successes, approximately 6,000 habeas petitions were filed last year in the Central District of California alone.
The next honoree, Chicago associate Jared Boone, was a unanimous choice of the Pro Bono Committee for his deep overall commitment to the firm's pro bono program. In 2025, he clocked more than 335 pro bono hours by participating in pro bono workshops, representing individuals, and staffing the guardianship helpdesk at the Cook County courthouse. Through that work, Boone helped expand the firm's relationship with the Center for Disability & Elder Law (CDEL). He has since worked with more than 60 CDEL clients on guardianship matters, and last December he joined the organization's Young Professionals Board to further support CDEL and its mission.
In accepting the award, Boone thanked the Venable partners who supported him in his pro bono efforts.
The final award of the night went to retired Baltimore partner John McCauley, who secured a highly favorable settlement for a court-appointed pro bono client. In 2019, a correctional officer at North Branch Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland pepper-sprayed and assaulted inmate Terrence Anderson. Prison officials failed to provide necessary medical treatment, leading to permanent injuries for Anderson. Officials subsequently attempted to cover up their neglect.
Through the pretrial proceedings to the settlement negotiations, McCauley devoted 1,205 hours to the case. In accepting his award, he thanked Venable for continuing to provide financial and administrative support for this case, despite his retirement several years before the settlement.
To conclude the evening, Pro Bono coordinator Tina Goldy thanked everyone who contributed 50 or more hours to the pro bono program last year. She also announced a new tradition to recognize those individuals, beginning with celebratory pins.