Manatt will be honored with an American Bar Association (ABA) 2020 Pro Bono Publico Award at the organization’s virtual ABA Annual Meeting, running from July 29 through August 4, 2020. This prestigious award is presented each year to five individual lawyers and institutions in the legal profession that have demonstrated outstanding commitment to volunteer legal services for the poor and disadvantaged.
For nearly two decades, Manatt has been a leader in the fight for the liberties and protections that everyone is entitled to, regardless of who they are, where they are from or whom they love.
Since 2004, when the firm hired its first full-time pro bono attorney, Manatt has dedicated more than 375,000 hours to pro bono matters across the full gamut of issues, from ensuring that veterans have full access to their VA benefits to protecting the sanctity of the U.S. Census, and everything in between. Through these efforts, the firm has helped disabled veterans, immigrants, victims of domestic abuse, and many others obtain the care, benefits and protections that they are guaranteed under the law.
Manatt has also fought successfully alongside a network of well-respected legal aid and civil rights partner organizations to help address the justice gap that exists for low-income communities. These efforts include the firm’s involvement in last year’s landmark California Census case as well as a class action on behalf of abused, neglected and abandoned immigrant youth in California.
Established in 1984, the ABA Pro Bono Publico Awards are the top honors presented by the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service identifying and honoring individual lawyers and small and large law firms, government attorney offices, corporate law departments, and other institutions in the legal profession that have enhanced the human dignity of others by improving or delivering volunteer legal services to our nation’s poor and disadvantaged.