Mayer Brown was honored at the City Bar Justice Center’s (CBJC) 18th Annual Awards Gala. The firm, along with BNY Mellon, received the 2023 City Bar Justice Award for its “commitment to promoting racial, social, and economic justice through a range of pro bono legal services and other philanthropic commitments,” according to CBJC.
Mayer Brown is one of CBJC’s longest-standing partners, having worked across multiple pro bono practice areas. For many years, the firm has partnered with CBJC on the Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project, which provides free legal services to microentrepreneurs in communities that have been traditionally disenfranchised. More recently, as part of the firm’s racial justice initiative, Project Equity, the firm partnered with CBJC and its Homeowner Stability Project (HSP), which advances racial equality by helping New Yorkers of limited means threatened with the loss of their family homes, including through forced partition actions and other predatory practices. In 2022, partner John Conlon and associate Max Fiest received CBJC’s “Outstanding Pro Bono Service Award” for their work with the HSP.
“We are proud of this recognition, our years-long partnership with CBJC and the impact we –along with BNY Mellon – are making to ensure equal justice for all New Yorkers,” said Matthew Ingber, managing partner of Mayer Brown’s New York office.
Mayer Brown’s engagement with CBJC also includes work through the Immigrant Justice and Veterans Assistance Projects. Over the past seven years the firm has provided direct assistance to almost 100 clients in partnership with the organization.
“Mayer Brown embodies this year’s gala theme – The Power of Bro Bono – and exemplifies the impact pro bono can have in making New York a place of more vibrant hope for our neighbors in need,” said CBJC Executive Director Kurt M. Denk.
Mayer Brown is a leader in developing innovative approaches to pro bono work. Mayer Brown was the first major law firm to develop and implement a pro bono strategic plan, and the firm focuses on pioneering projects that will have a substantial impact, both locally and globally. Mayer Brown has long deployed its resources to advance justice and to confront systemic problems, and each year donates tens of thousands of hours of legal services to those with limited means and to the organizations that serve them. In 2020, the firm launched its racial justice initiative, Project Equity.
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