08/11/2009
Holocaust Survivors Justice Network Receives ABA Pro Bono Award
Cooley Attorneys Play Prominent Role in Project's Success
San Diego, Calif. – August 11, 2009 – The Holocaust Survivors Justice Network (HSJN) was awarded the 2009 American Bar Association Pro Bono Publico Award at the organization's annual meeting held recently. Cooley is the coordinating firm in San Diego for the nationwide program, and dozens of attorneys firmwide participate in the project.
Organized by the Los Angeles-based nonprofit law firm Bet Tzedek Legal Services, the HSJN is an international initiative established to raise awareness among Holocaust survivors about a reparations program established by the German government, and provide them with assistance to access reparation payments.
Cooley attorneys have contributed more than 1,700 hours to the program, which has established a broad network of clinics in 31 major cities in the United States and Canada and two cities in Australia.
The groundbreaking project is the first-ever nationally coordinated reparations endeavor on behalf of survivors, and the largest pro bono initiative of its kind in U.S. history, according to Bet Tzedek. Since its inception, Justice Network volunteers have met with and interviewed about 5,000 survivors, filing an estimated 3,000 claims, worth approximately $8 million in potential reparation payments.
In 2008, Cooley contributed more than 45,000 hours of pro bono legal services.
About The Holocaust Survivors Justice Network
The Holocaust Survivors Justice Network is a national coalition of attorneys and other legal professionals from more than 100 law firms and corporate legal departments, as well as 30 Jewish social service agencies, organized to provide resources and dignity to survivors. Created by Bet Tzedek Legal Services in partnership with the law firm of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, the program is the first nationally coordinated pro bono effort--operating in 31 North American cities —to support survivors' reparation claim-filing needs. The initiative was organized in response to the Ghetto Work Payment Program enacted by the German government in October 2007, which provides a one time payment of €2,000 (approximately U.S.$2,800) to Holocaust survivors who performed "voluntary" work in German-controlled ghettos during World War II.
About Bet Tzedek
Founded in 1974, Bet Tzedek's mission is to ensure "equal justice for all." One of the nation's premier public interest law firms, Bet Tzedek, "The House of Justice" in Hebrew, provides free legal services in matters involving consumer rights, elder law, housing, public benefits and workers' rights to low-income, disabled and elderly people of all racial and religious backgrounds. Bet Tzedek is renowned as one of a handful of agencies in the world to offer free legal help to Holocaust survivors on a wide range of issues, including reparations, pensions, and benefits offered by Germany and other European countries.
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