LSC Honors California Attorneys, Law Firms, and Collaborative Projects for Pro Bono Service

WASHINGTON – The Legal Services Corporation Board of Directors will present its Pro Bono Service Award on Oct. 5 to five California attorneys, three law firms, and two innovative collaborative projects in recognition of their extraordinary commitment to equal justice. The awards ceremony will take place at 5:30 p.m. at Kirkland & Ellis, LLP, 555 California Street in San Francisco.

The Pro Bono Service Award Reception is being held in conjunction with the LSC Board of Directors’ quarterly meeting.

Speakers at the event include California Supreme Court Associate Justice Goodwin Liu, California State Bar Association President Craig Holden, and LSC Board Chairman John G. Levi.

Recipients of the Pro Bono Service Award are:

  • Arnold & Porter, LLP, where attorneys in the firm’s Los Angeles, Palo Alto, and San Francisco offices spent two years, and donated nearly 5,000 hours, working as co-counsel on cases involving the legal rights of homeless clients for Central California Legal Services.
  • Covington Burling LLP, for its longstanding commitment to supporting economically disadvantaged individuals and families through pro bono work with Bay Area Legal Aid. The firm’s efforts have helped the organization save money and secure judgments on behalf of clients.
  • Tzung-lin Fu, a litigator with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, has spent hundreds of hours representing immigrants, minorities, victims of domestic violence, and children with special needs for clients at Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, where she has been on the board of directors since 2014.
  • Krystyna Jamieson, a partner at Klein, DeNatale, Goldner, began volunteering with Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance more than three years ago. She currently manages a pro bono caseload of 20-25 at any given time and to date has handled 105 guardianship cases for the organization.
  • Jeffry L. Johnson, who provides ongoing support and services to the Legal Aid Society of Orange County and its staff. Since 2011, the investigator with Norman A. Traub Associates has directly advised on more than 3,192 cases for the legal aid provider.
  • Jesse Lloyd, a partner with Bean+Lloyd LLP, has been a driving force in Legal Services of Northern California’s Path to Citizenship Day since 2011. He alone has assisted 106 clients navigate the naturalization process.
  • The Permanency Project, a unique pro bono model that connects attorneys from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP with students from the University of California, Irvine, School of Law to help low-income immigrant clients obtain green cards. The project has been an initiative of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles since 2010.
    San Diego County Bar Association Appellate Practice Section, and its more than 50 volunteer attorneys who have helped advise more than 90 self-represented litigants as part of a workshop project of the Legal Aid Society of San Diego and the San Diego Law Library.
  • Michael A. Scafiddi, who for 16 years has served on the board of the San Bernardino County Legal Aid Society, has set up a program to encourage other local attorneys to give back which has raised $150,000 and stimulated 400 additional pro bono hours for the community.
  • Villegas Carrera LLP, a San Francisco firm that has been volunteering its time for 15 years to California Rural Legal Assistance. One of the first private firms to venture into rural communities, its attorneys co-counsel on major employment litigation for immigrant clients.

Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is an independent nonprofit established by Congress in 1974. For 50 years, LSC has provided financial support for civil legal aid to low-income Americans. The Corporation currently provides funding to 131 independent nonprofit legal aid programs in every state, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories.