(SAN FRANCISCO, April 29, 2011)-Reed Smith Pro Bono Counsel Jayne E. Fleming has been awarded the UC Berkeley School of Law's first annual "Kathi Pugh Award" for her mentoring of the school's California Asylum Representation Clinic (CARC).
Ms. Fleming, who leads the 50-attorney Human Rights team at Reed Smith LLP, is a ‘00 graduate of Berkeley Law. She created the CARC mentoring program in 2008 as a partnership between the school's asylum clinic and Reed Smith's Pro Bono Committee. Last year, Ms. Fleming led a team of eight Reed Smith attorneys, who devoted pro bono hours to mentoring and training CARC student advocates in their representation of individuals applying for political asylum. More than half of the first-year class at Berkeley Law participates in the CARC program, which has an impressive 80 percent success rate.
"We're lucky to have such a dedicated pro bono advocate like Jayne in our office," said San Francisco Managing Partner David Thompson. "She does tremendous work on important issues, and she inspires people around her to get involved."
Conferred annually to mentors of the school's Student-Initiated Legal Services Projects, this new award is named in honor of Kathi Pugh, Pro Bono Coordinator at Morrison & Foerster, who, herself, was also honored this year for her longtime mentoring of the school's Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP). Similarly, Reed Smith provides mentoring to the IRAP at The University of Pennsylvania Law School. IRAP is a national organization that helps Iraqis, and their families, who were formerly employed by American and international forces in Iraq, to enter the United States through Special Immigrant Visas.
Reed Smith also has a mentoring partnership with the Queen Mary's University Legal Advice Centre (QMAC) in London, which works with LawWorks to provide free legal aid to individuals and community groups in need. Last year, Reed Smith was honored as "Best Student Team" at the LawWorks and Attorney General Student Awards.
"Our mentoring program partnerships are very important to us at Reed Smith," says Senior Pro Bono Counsel Chris Walters. "We have a core commitment to mentoring at all career levels, and it is especially gratifying to work with law students, many of whom we hope will emerge as tomorrow's leaders in pro bono law."
The Berkeley Law Kathi Pugh Award is the latest in a succession of honors for Ms. Fleming, who has a reputation for winning high-stakes asylum cases in courts of last resort. This year, her ongoing work on behalf of Haitian earthquake survivors was named by the Daily Journal and The National Law Journal as being among the top pro bono projects in California and the United States, respectively. Previously, Ms. Fleming received the ABA Section of Litigation's "John Minor Wisdom Award for Pro Bono and Community Service"; and she has been named one of the "50 Most Influential Women in America" by The National Law Journal, and an "Attorney of the Year" by California Lawyer magazine.
About Reed Smith
Reed Smith is a global relationship law firm with more than 1,600 lawyers in 22 offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Founded in 1877, the firm represents leading international businesses, from Fortune 100 corporations to mid-market and emerging enterprises. Its lawyers provide litigation and other dispute-resolution services in multi-jurisdictional and other high-stakes matters; deliver regulatory counsel; and execute the full range of strategic domestic and cross-border transactions. Reed Smith is a preeminent advisor to industries including financial services, life sciences, health care, advertising, technology and media, shipping, energy trade and commodities, real estate, manufacturing, and education. For more information, visit reedsmith.com.
U.S.: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Oakland, Princeton, Northern Virginia, Wilmington, Silicon Valley, Century City, Richmond
Europe: London, Paris, Munich, Greece
Middle East: Abu Dhabi, Dubai
Asia: Hong Kong, Beijing