Katten Receives Center for Disability and Elder Law’s 2006 Distinguished Service Award

CHICAGO - Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP is pleased to announce that it has been selected as the recipient of the Center for Disability and Elder Law’s 2006 Distinguished Service Award. The award is presented to individuals and businesses that have demonstrated outstanding pro bono commitment, service, and leadership in the past year. The Firm will be honored at the organization’s Annual Volunteer Recognition Awards reception on May 4.

The Center for Disability and Elder Law was founded in 1984. As one of Chicago’s foremost pro bono legal service providers, the Center vigorously advocates for the legal rights of low-income elderly and persons with disabilities. Its more than 1,300 volunteer lawyers and paralegals have committed their time, counsel, and resources to provide legal services to those who have been marginalized by poverty, disability, and age. In 2004, the Center volunteered more than $3.5 million in legal services to low-income seniors and clients with disabilities on a pro bono basis.

"We are privileged to have the opportunity to work with the Center for Disability and Elder Law, an organization that shares our Firm’s passion and sense of responsibility for ensuring that all individuals are able to receive appropriate legal counsel, regardless of age, income, gender or race," said Jonathan K. Baum, Katten’s Director of Pro Bono Services.

Katten has a long-term commitment to helping the poor, the powerless and the disenfranchised obtain first-rate legal representation without charge. Attorneys and other legal professionals give their time, resources and talent to serve individuals and organizations in need, to engage in important national litigation, and to partner with local legal service providers to ensure access to the justice system.

Katten’s pro bono program is particularly noteworthy for the breadth of services that it offers. These include litigation, both on behalf of individuals and groups, in matters of housing and public accommodations discrimination, civil liberties, immigration, criminal defense and prisoners' rights, and consumer matters; as well as transactional pro bono work in such areas as corporate and tax assistance to not-for-profit organizations, intellectual property law, employee benefits, and international trade law. The Firm’s pro bono program has been honored by the American Bar Association Section of Business Law with its National Public Service Award, as well as by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund in Chicago, the Lawyers Alliance for New York, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and numerous other groups.