CHICAGO and SALT LAKE CITY – May 5, 2023 – Greenberg Traurig, LLP received two awards for pro bono service for separate efforts taken on by attorneys in its Chicago and Salt Lake City offices.
The firm received the Award for Excellence in Pro Bono and Public Interest Service from the Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the Chicago Chapter of the Federal Bar Association for its work representing a group of transgender women challenging the constitutionality of certain restrictions contained in the Illinois Name Change Statute as applied to them.
In coordination with a coalition that included lawyers from the Transformative Justice Law Project of Illinois and others, the firm took on the litigation in Reyna Angelina Ortiz, et al. v. Kimberly M. Foxx, et al. as part of a larger legislative strategy to effect a change in the law. After nearly four years, the lawsuit was dismissed as moot because amendments to the bill were passed by the state legislature and signed into law by the Illinois governor in February 2023.
The Chicago team included Shareholders Martin S. Kedziora and Gregory E. Ostfeld, and Associates Brian D. Straw and Alexandra Block.
The Utah State Bar presented Greenberg Traurig with its 2023 Pro Bono Publico Law Firm of the Year award. Through a program sponsored by the Utah State Bar, the Greenberg Traurig team volunteered to represent indigent tenants who were being evicted by their landlords in Salt Lake County monthly. The work included helping tenants navigate the legal system, understand their rights, and negotiate settlements tailored to each tenant’s individual circumstances, oftentimes including negotiating to help them avoid homelessness. The team also represented the tenants at their immediate occupancy hearing, put the settlements on the record, argued in defense of the tenant, or participated in evidentiary hearings.
The Salt Lake City team included Shareholder Lauren E. H. DiFrancesco, and Associates Alexander Baker and Carson Heninger