PRO BONO PRACTICE
Sher & Blackwell has a strong tradition of community
service and helping the disadvantaged. We believe providing legal advice to those who can
not afford it helps strengthen our local community. For a small firm, our commitment to
our pro bono program is quite substantial. The firm participates twice each year in the
District of Columbia Bar Pro Bono Clinic, and Sher & Blackwell attorneys are involved
in a wide variety of pro bono cases. In recognition of its service to the community, the
District of Columbia Bar awarded Sher & Blackwell the title of “Pro Bono Small
Firm of the Year, 1999-2000.”
Because we are proud of our pro bono work, we wanted to share
with you some of the more interesting cases in which we have recently been involved.
- Representation of an elderly
widow before the U.S. Court of Veterans Appeals in obtaining
death benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Her husband - a prisoner of war in World War II - had died
in 1949, and she had been trying for nearly 50 years to
obtain benefits for service-related death before the Court
finally found in her favor.
- Representation of two Russian
men seeking political asylum in the United States on account
of political persecution.
- Representation of community
and environmental groups in Southern Maryland in preservation
of 2,200 acres of woodland along Chesapeake Bay.
- Several child custody cases
in the District of Columbia.
- Representation of the World
Archaeological Congress in establishing legal standing and
tax exempt status in the United States.
- Representation of a mentally handicapped
woman in litigation over debts incurred by her late husband.
We were successful in obtaining a dismissal of the case.
- Secured child custody on behalf of a
Naval enlisted woman in Virginia despite opposition from
the guardian ad litem and the City of Alexandria.
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