NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sidley Austin LLP is honored to announce that it is a recipient of a 2011 Commitment to Justice Award, given by inMotion, Inc., a leading non-profit legal services provider that helps low-income women in New York. Most of the women inMotion serves suffer from domestic violence and many are recent immigrants. The ceremony, held on February 8, honored Sidley lawyers Algeria Aljure, Marissa Alter-Nelson and Jon W. Muenz with a Legal Team Award for their advocacy on behalf of a mother of four children from Chad.
“Sidley has a significant and meaningful partnership with inMotion, and we are gratified to receive our third Commitment to Justice Award,” said George Petrow, managing partner of Sidley’s New York office. “The firm has a strong commitment to pro bono representation and involvement in the communities in which we serve, and in New York we are honored to work with inMotion to improve the lives of women and their children who benefit from inMotion’s legal services.”
Sidley has a long-standing relationship with inMotion and has been a Corporate Partner since 2001, providing financial as well as pro bono support. Since 2004, the firm’s New York office has sponsored an innovative, full-time externship program with inMotion. Each Sidley extern works at inMotion’s offices in New York City for a three- to four-month period on a rotating basis, and receives extensive training from inMotion. Twenty-three Sidley externs have worked full-time at inMotion, providing immediate in-court representation to women with emergency situations. Further, Sidley lawyers regularly handle inMotion matters, such as contested and uncontested divorces, in addition to their regular workloads.
In all, more than 220 Sidley lawyers, summer associates and other volunteers have worked on over 270 matters referred by inMotion, securing orders of protection against abusive husbands and fathers, fair divorce judgments, legal residency without reliance on the sponsorship of an abusive husband and court orders granting custody to caring mothers and providing for safe visitation arrangements, child support and spousal support.
Sidley’s Pro Bono Policy encourages all lawyers to devote time to pro bono legal matters, including assistance to the poor and to charitable, community and other organizations that serve people who are indigent and unable to afford legal representation. In 2009, Sidley lawyers, legal assistants and staff devoted more than 84,000 hours to pro bono projects.
Sidley Austin LLP is one of the world’s largest full-service law firms, with approximately 1700 lawyers practicing in 17 U.S. and international cities, including Beijing, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, London, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.
For purposes of the New York State Bar rules, this press release may be considered Attorney Advertising and the headquarters of the firm are Sidley Austin LLP 787 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019, 212.839.5300 and Sidley Austin LLP One South Dearborn, Chicago, IL 60603, 312.853.7000. Prior results described herein do not guarantee a similar outcome.