Disability Cases. For the 21st year, Kramer Levin summer associates represented low-income Social Security disability claimants in administrative proceedings before the Social Security Administration (“SSA”), working with CeDAR. Then-summer associates Clinton Daggan, Brittlynn Hall, Matthew Murphy, and Joseph Snee, supervised by Kramer Levin lawyers Aaron Frankel, Aaron Fleisher, Mae Rogers, Jodi Rosensaft and Terryl Simeina, represented several claimants in their requests for reconsideration of the denial of their claim for Social Security disability benefits. Each summer associate represented a claimant in a hearing before an administrative law judge, winning benefits in most cases.

Jeff Trachtman and Jessica Glass have also worked with CeDAR to challenge the SSA’s policy of failing to consider the combined impact of all of a claimant’s impairments in evaluating children’s SSI claims. Kramer Levin and CeDAR briefed the merits of the issue in connection with two different cases pending before Southern District judges and also briefed a class action certification motion in one of the cases. The Second Circuit rejected our appeal in one of these cases in May 2003, in a decision that nevertheless established important principles and expressly invited further litigation. Taking up the Second Circuit’s suggestion, the Kramer Levin team worked with CeDAR to launch a new class action challenging the agency’s ongoing illegal practice. The District Court again denied our challenge, and the matter is now on appeal to the Second Circuit, where Jeff argued the case in November 2008.

Aid to Veterans. During 2008, Kramer Levin attorneys represented a number of veterans with service-connected disability claims before the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Most of the clients were referred to Kramer Levin through the New York City Bar’s Veterans Assistance Project. Mark Parise, Erin Oshiro, Steven Schiliro, Dana DeVivo and Ying Ying Li all handled matters, and Mark coordinated the firm’s involvement in the program. Clinton Daggan, a 2008 summer associate, also provided assistance.

Family Law. Kramer Levin’s long-standing relationships with inMotion and New York Legal Assistance Group continued in 2008 as the firm’s lawyers assisted clients with a range of family law needs. Representative matters include:

Adina Levine, Adam Ford and Eric Tirschwell represented a woman seeking divorce from her husband on grounds of cruelty, who used techniques learned in the course of his law enforcement career to verbally abuse and physically intimidate our client. After extensive discovery practice, Adina and Adam settled the case on the eve of trial, resulting in favorable outcomes for their client on custody, child support and equitable distribution of marital property. Adina continues to represent our client in finalizing “qualified domestic relations orders” that will guarantee her a share of her ex-husband’s pension and retirement assets. Stephen Zide, Nakeeb Siddique, and summer associates Joshua Friedman and Mindi Guttman assisted in this case.

Samantha Ettari, Nakeeb Siddique, David Frankel and Alison Greenman are defending a disabled client in a contested divorce proceeding brought by her husband, and representing her on a counterclaim for divorce on alternate grounds. The client was prohibited during the course of a long marriage from any meaningful information about her family’s income, support or assets, and was abandoned, penniless, by her husband. In addition to a judgment of divorce, Kramer Levin will pursue claims for spousal support and equitable distribution of assets, including retirement assets.

Amy Weiner and Jennifer Diana, assisted by Tom Moreland, represent a woman in an ongoing harassment case with the father of her son. In addition to successfully opposing visitation by the father (who has been incarcerated since before the child’s birth), in response to threats and harassment, they obtained an order of protection and helped their client obtain secure, protective housing. Adina Levine and summer associate Megan Holcomb also contributed to this case.

Alexandra Alberstadt, Carol Archer, Dannie Cho, Samantha Ettari, Diane Lucas, Michael Maoz, Letitia Vellut, Jonathan Wagner, Zoe Leibowitz and summer associates Katherine Lynn Harris and Kelly Glass also handled matters involving divorce, custody, child support, and orders of protection.

Help for Low-Income Parents. In 2008, Kramer Levin, in conjunction with the VOLS School-Based Children’s Project, began conducting a bi-monthly pro bono legal clinic for low-income parents of students at P.S. 11, a public elementary school in Chelsea. Under the supervision of Alan Friedman and Jessica Glass, attorneys Dannie Cho, Samantha Ford, Jared Heller, Theodore Hertzberg, Geoffrey Hu, Matthew Keller, Antonia Lee, Jennifer Pastarnack, Kathleen Pirozzolo, Guilaine Senecal, Nakeeb Siddique, Pamela Swidler, and Amy Weiner have assisted approximately two dozen parents with housing, immigration, family law, and other legal issues that threatened to disrupt the ability of their children to obtain an education.

Aid to Holocaust Survivors. In 2008, the Bet Tzedek legal services organization facilitated a national effort to assist Holocaust survivors who performed “voluntary” work in ghettos under Nazi control in applying for lump-sum reparation payments from the German government. Abbe Dienstag, Robert Wollin and Jacqueline Grant helped organize Kramer Levin’s participation in the program. Jacqueline Grant, Zoe Leibowitz, Adina Levine, Daniel Berman and Gabrielle Paupeck attended a pro bono legal clinic where they met with Holocaust survivors and assisted them with completing and submitting their applications to the German government.

Individual Counseling. Under the supervision of Gordon Stone, in 2008 Kramer Levin attorneys provided estate planning assistance to more than a dozen low-income senior citizens referred through the VOLS Elderly Project. Madelyn Dorman, Dana Hirsch, Geoffrey Hu, Michael Kreiner, Marissa Leung, Jason Litowitz, Gariel Nahoum, Rebecca Porath, Eileen Reardon, Ashley Roberts, Mae Rogers and then-summer associates Kelly Glass, Mindi Guttmann, and Jay Robert represented individuals in the preparation of a Will, Health-Care Proxy/Living Will, and Durable Power of Attorney.

Kramer Levin attorneys Jennifer Diana, Carl Duffield, Jessica Glass, Amy Weiner and then-summer associates Angela Burton, Megan Fuller and Jacob Press volunteered their time to the VOLS Incarcerated Mothers Project, which provides one-on-one legal counseling to incarcerated mothers at Rikers Island, Bayview Correctional Facility Street, and Taconic Correctional Facility. Through the project, lawyers assist mothers with child custody and visitation issues and provide legal information sessions, informing groups of mothers on their rights and responsibilities as to their children while incarcerated.

Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. Kramer Levin attorneys continued to provide legal advice to the arts community by working directly with various artists and arts organizations and through Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, a non-profit organization that delivers pro bono and low cost legal services and information to low-income artists and nonprofit arts organizations. For example, Adam Price helped a young screenwriter negotiate a development deal with a production and distribution media company, a fitness instructor in connection with safeguarding audio and visual recordings of copyrighted teaching methods, and two playwrights with establishing a corporate entity to seek investment for a Broadway production. Matthew Abbott and then-summer associates Josh Winefsky and Nathaniel Fischer assisted the producer of a musical DVD for special needs children on music copyright issues. Ted Mlynar and Dmitry Shelhoff counseled a local performing artist regarding trademark and copyright issues in connection with her new business venture. Erica Klein provided copyright counseling to the organizer of a weekly collaborative podcast that featured the unpublished works of composers, instrumentalists, and sound artists. Paul Connuck, Joel Taylor and then-summer associate Rachel Feinberg also worked on VLA projects.

Helping Microentrepreneurs. The Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union provides loans to low-income individuals starting or acquiring small businesses in Brooklyn who otherwise might not be eligible to receive loans. Kramer Levin provides free legal assistance to those small businesses that request legal help. In 2008, Alyssa Katz and Abe Safdie represented a purchaser of a children’s clothing store in Carroll Gardens, and Rebecca Porath and Abe Safdie represented a purchaser of a pizzeria in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Home: 2008 Pro Bono Report