Outstanding Achievement Award, Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, 2010

Zuckerman Spaeder LLP is pleased to announce that the firm has been awarded an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs—the firm’s third pro bono award in 2010. This award is in recognition of Zuckerman Spaeder’s pro bono work with the Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project on political asylum cases. In 2009, the firm represented a Rwandan genocide survivor in securing political asylum in the United States after he was tortured by Rwandan government agents in 2008 for testifying in a judicial proceeding against those accused of murdering his family.

“There are few areas in law where we can make such a dramatic difference in the life of a client than in our work on political asylum cases,” said Eleanor H. Smith, head of Zuckerman Spaeder’s Pro Bono Practice. “Because of the well-developed factual support and legal arguments powerfully presented by associate Cory Way to show our client’s entitlement to political asylum, our client never had to go through the courts. Instead, our client was granted asylum and, with Zuckerman Spaeder’s continued help, he applied and was admitted to George Washington University, where he is a graduate student today. What a difference a year and able counsel can make.” Of this experience, Mr. Way said, “It has been a great privilege to represent such a worthy and wonderful client.”

Zuckerman Spaeder has a distinguished tradition of pro bono service. In 2010, the District of Columbia Bar honored the firm with its Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year Award in the category for large firms. A litigation boutique of approximately 50 partners, counsels, and associates in its Washington, DC office, Zuckerman Spaeder was chosen by the DC Bar from among much larger DC-based law firms, and DC branch offices of multi-national firms. This year Zuckerman Spaeder attorney David A. Reiser also received the American Bar Association’s 2010 Pro Bono Publico Award. Mr. Reiser was recognized for his instrumental role in the success of the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia’s Appellate Advocacy Project.