As we enter the summer months, we want to look back and show appreciation to recipients of the 28th Annual “And Justice for All” Awards. This year, the luncheon took place on Thursday, May 15th at the Grand Bay Hotel and featured a keynote speech from Juliet M. Brodie, Professor of Law and Director of the Stanford Community Law Clinic, which regularly partners with the Legal Aid SMC housing team to help local clients with housing issues.
Professor Brodie kicked off the event with a rousing speech, decrying targeted attacks against the rule of law and highlighting the impact that attorneys can have serving our community. She shared stories of clients who, after pursuing every avenue of help available to them, could only get the services they needed from the teams at Legal Aid SMC. Professor Brodie closed her message by stressing that legal aid programs ensure people the opportunity to get justice through our legal system as intended.
Following tradition, Legal Aid SMC gave out four awards to honor and highlight those leading the fight for justice for all in our county.
Feb Cabraswan, longtime Legal Aid SMC pro bono attorney, received his second Dorothy M. Wolfe Award, for his contributions as a pro bono attorney over the last 20 years. Feb moved to Texas a few years ago, but that did not stop him from working for Legal Aid clients! When legal matters and courts moved online in 2020, Feb reached out to our pro bono department to see if there was any way that he could help out with any cases. Since then, Feb has worked on countless conservatorship cases from his new home in Texas, and Legal Aid is proud to have attorneys like him working with us on pro bono cases.
Morgan Lewis was this year’s recipient of the Guardian of Justice Award. This award goes to a law firm whose pro bonos work above and beyond with Legal Aid SMC, and Morgan Lewis certainly fits that description. Their work spans across every area our pro bono program covers including conservatorships, guardianships, domestic violence restraining orders, housing clinic, Advance Healthcare Directive/Power of Attorney Clinic, and the Half Moon Bay U Visa Project. Manita Rawat, Partner at Morgan Lewis, accepted the award on behalf of the firm. In her acceptance she highlighted the immense need for pro bono work from firms, especially in the current political environment.
Faith in Action Bay Area–Rapid Response Hotline, a Legal Aid SMC nonprofit partner, received the Natalie T. Lanam Award. For the past seven years the Rapid Response Hotline has been keeping our community safe by providing critical information about local ICE activity, connecting immigrant families with legal help, and providing volunteers who accompany local residents to ICE check-ins or court hearings. Magdalena Lara accepted the award on behalf of the many Rapid Response Hotline volunteers working with Faith in Action Bay Area. We were pleased to have many of them in attendance at the event as well!
Shane Sagisi, a Legal Aid SMC staff attorney working on the HomeSavers Project, received our final award of the afternoon: the George R. Corey-Linda M. Gemello Award, which goes to a Legal Aid staff attorney who shows a deep commitment to our mission. Shane started at Legal Aid SMC as a non-attorney project coordinator while studying for the Bar Exam. After passing the Bar, Shane became a Staff Attorney and has been with Legal Aid SMC ever since. He represents low-income tenants in San Mateo County, helping them with a wide variety of issues spanning from eviction cases to landlord disputes. An invaluable member of the housing team, Shane is a great example of all of the work done by Legal Aid SMC staff members and attorneys.
Follow the link below to view more pictures from the event and watch the keynote speech and award ceremony!