Kramer Levin’s Jeffrey Trachtman to Receive Prestigious 2013 ABA Pro Bono Publico Award

Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP is pleased to announce that Jeffrey S. Trachtman will receive the 2013 Pro Bono Publico Award from the American Bar Association in recognition of his years of service and dedication to serving those in need and helping to shape how law firms engage pro bono clients. A partner in Kramer Levin’s Litigation Department, Trachtman has been in practice for over 25 years, 17 of which he served as chair of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee.

Each year, the Pro Bono Publico Awards seek to identify and honor those who have enhanced the human dignity of others by improving or delivering volunteer legal services. The ABA’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service presents five awards, annually, to individual lawyers and legal institutions that have demonstrated outstanding commitment to the poor and disadvantaged. Trachtman will receive the award at a luncheon at the ABA’s Annual Meeting in San Francisco on August 12.

“Jeff has always been a pioneer of pro bono service, even prior to joining Kramer Levin,” said Kramer Levin’s Managing Partner, Paul Pearlman. “Pro bono work is embedded into the culture of our firm, and Jeff’s passion and vision have played a key role in the development of our pro bono program.”

Trachtman is being honored both for his leadership in building Kramer Levin’s program and engaging his colleagues in pro bono work, and for his own individual pro bono involvements. Some of the highlights of Trachtman’s pro bono work include, Stieberger v. Chater, a case establishing due process protections for mentally impaired federal disability claimants; Encarnacion v. Astrue, a class action litigated over ten years challenging the Social Security Administration’s practice of failing to consider the combined impact of all impairments in determining children’s eligibility for SSI benefits; and Hernandez v. Robles, a major litigation seeking equal marriage rights under the New York Constitution, in which Kramer Levin was cooperating counsel with Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Most recently, Trachtman spearheaded Kramer Levin’s amicus role on behalf of mainstream religious organizations supporting marriage equality in the current U.S. Supreme Court cases on Prop 8 (Perry) and DOMA (Windsor), and he has acted as point person for the firm’s general counsel roles for the LGBT Community Center and Freedom to Marry.

“I am humbled to receive this award,” said Trachtman. “Kramer Levin’s pro bono commitment goes back to its founding, and the firm’s support and enthusiasm for the pro bono program has never flagged. It has been a highlight of my career to engage in this work and to encourage my colleagues to join in making a positive impact in the community and the world at large.”

Kramer Levin’s pro bono program routinely takes up the causes of veterans, refugees, children, LGBT individuals, micro-entrepreneurs, and battered women, among others. The program has received widespread recognition, including the ABA’s other major pro bono honor, the John Minor Wisdom Award, in 2007. More recently, the firm has been honored for several years in a row as a “Pro Bono Visionary” by Legal Services NYC, the largest provider of civil legal services in New York City. In 2011, the firm received the Pro Bono Publico Award for outstanding services to the Legal Aid Society and its clients and Immigration Equality’s Safe Haven Award for work on behalf of LGBT asylum seekers. Both Trachtman and Associate Aaron Frankel, who runs the firm’s award-winning asylum program, are past recipients of the President’s Pro Bono Service Award of the New York State Bar Association.

Kramer Levin attorneys have been especially active in cases that have arisen from the Supreme Court’s ruling in Padilla v. Kentucky, which requires that non-citizen criminal defendants be informed of the possible immigration consequences of a guilty plea, specifically deportation. This work grew out of the firm’s funding of a full-time fellowship in conjunction with Equal Justice Works, a program in which the firm has participated for a number of years.

When Hurricane Sandy ravaged the Northeast, Kramer Levin attorneys engaged affected communities to help file insurance claims and apply for FEMA assistance. These attorneys continue to provide assistance with real estate and condemnation issues, insurance disputes, continuation of benefits problems, and the simple need to replace property deeds, marriage certificates, birth certificates, and other documents lost in the storm.

Through Kramer Levin’s pro bono mentoring program, first-year associates are paired with attorneys who regularly work on pro bono projects to help foster the firm’s culture of giving back. The firm’s Attorney Service Program sends firm lawyers to work full-time staffing an on-going position at South Brooklyn Legal Services representing indigent Housing Court litigants. During the past 15 years, Kramer Levin externs have directly represented over 500 low-income tenants in court and provided counseling through hotline and walk-in clinics to thousands more.

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