image of Philadelphia skyline
 


SUPPORTERS

2009 Move Donors - Funds, goods and services
2009 Law Firm Donors
Foundations
Cy Pres Awards

2009 Annual Report


GENEROUS DONORS MAKE POSSIBLE OUR MOVE TO A BRIGHT, SPACIOUS NEW OFFICE
The Law Center gratefully acknowledges the following businesses and individuals who contributed funds, goods, and services to enable us to move to a beautiful new office on Benjamin Franklin Parkway:

REAL ESTATE BROKERS/ADVISORS
Tactix Real Estate Advisors, LLC
: Kartik Patel, Glenn Blumenfeld and Greg Lugones
 
MOVING CONSULTANTS
Watchdog Real Estate Project Managers: Natasha Cave, David Heckler and Kiera McDonaugh
 
LAWYERS
Morgan Lewis LLP: Melissa W. Brown, J.J. Broderick and Leah S. Raup
 
TELEPHONES/INSTALLATION
Cozen O'Connor: Joseph C. D'Urso, Amy Freese and Brian Gillam
Heavy Water Ltd.: Charles Franklin and Ameena Tabassum
 
MOVERS/INSTALLATION
The Riff Group: Mary Ann Schmidt, President and Bob Schlear
Wayne Moving & Storage: George Louderback
 
FURNITURE/WORK STATIONS
Fox Rothschild LLP
Boomerang, Inc.
: Seth DeForest, President
Devon Consulting: Joel Adams
Corporate Facilities: Peggy Kelly
 
ELECTRICAL SUPPLIES AND SERVICES
Belles Network Services: Robert Pasquarello
 
OUR NEW BUILDING
United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania: Susan Forman, Vice President, Special Projects
Cushman & Wakefield
 
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Ellen Friedell
Roosevelt Hairston, Esq.
Reliable Copy Services, Inc.
Carl Singley
Tucker Law Group LLC
The Weiser Law Firm
White & Williams, LLP

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PHILADELPHIA LAW FIRMS CONTINUE TRADITION OF SUPPORT IN 2009

The Law Center was founded in the late 1960s as one of eight local affiliates of the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and incorporated in 1974 by five leaders of the Philadelphia bar. The members of Philadelphia's Legal community were generous supporters of this fledgling civil rights organization, sustaining its work to combat police abuse, racial and gender discrimination in Philadelphia's police force and housing discrimination.

The Law Center gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Philadelphia law firms continuing this tradition today. The following 46 firms made a donation to the Law Center in 2009:

$20,000+
Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check
Dechert LLP

$10,000 - $19,999
Berger & Montague, P.C.
Cozen & O'Connor
Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP
Kohn Swift & Graf, P.C.
Pepper Hamilton LLP

$5,000 - $9,999
Bolognese and Associates, LLP
Chimicles & Tikellis, LLP
Fox Rothschild LLP
Hangley Aronchick Segal & Pudlin
Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP
White & Williams LLP

$2,500 - $4,999
Bazelon, Less & Feldman, P.C.
Dilworth Paxson LLP
DLA Piper US LLP
Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC
Fine, Kaplan & Black
Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, LLP
Swartz Campbell LLC
$1,000 - $2,499
Boni & Zack LLC
Brodsky & Smith, LLC
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC
Conrad O'Brien
Fineman Krekstein & Harris, P.C.
Freemann Law Offices
Gibbons, P.C.
Levin, Fishbein, Sedran & Berman
Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin
McEldrew & Fullam, P.C.
Raynes McCarty
Reed Smith LLP
Tucker Law Group, LLC
The Weiser Law Firm

$500 - $999
Gay Chacker & Mittin, P.C.
Peter Hearn, Esquire
Littler Mendelson, P.C.
McCausland & McCausland LLC
Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC
Prickett, Jones & Elliott P.A.
Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz

Up to $499
Law Office of Paul Boni, P.C.
Console Law Offices LLC
Manko Gold Katcher & Fox LLP
George P. Wood & Associates, P.C.

The Law Center's ad thanking our 2009 donors, The Legal Intelligencer, March 23, 2010

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FOUNDATIONS FUND PROGRAM ADVANCEMENTS AT THE LAW CENTER

The Law Center is grateful for the generous support of the local and national foundations that make an investment in our important work. The Law Center is honored to receive support from the following foundations:

The Berkman Family Foundation awarded a grant of $10,000 to the Law Center to fund the organization's ongoing representation of the plaintiffs of the Medicaid enforcement case Westside Mothers v. Olsezewski. In this case, settled in August 2007, the Law Center represented a class of nearly 1 million Michigan children eligible for medical assistance and succeeded in gaining access to previously unavailable data about the children's access to primary and specialty care. Read more about the case.

The Dolfinger McMahon Foundation awarded the Law Center a generous grant for our work to address the needs of students in the Philadelphia School District classified with an Emotional Disturbance disability. The unique needs of this subgroup in the District's disabled population often go unaddressed and can result in the student being punished or even criminalized for disability-related behavior. The Law Center will lay the foundation for a support network to help families coping with this disability become empowered self-advocates.

The First United Methodist Church of Germantown selected the Law Center to receive a Community Needs Grant in support of our work to address the racial achievement gap in the Philadelphia School District.  The congregation's donations make this grant possible each year for several local organizations that work to advance the goals of social and economic justice.

The Hassel Foundation has awarded the Law Center a generous grant for general operating support. The Foundation's interest is in issues affecting children in the Philadelphia area, and the Law Center intends to use this grant to support its work in conjunction with the School District of Philadelphia to enforce the terms of the Gaskin Settlement that protects the rights of students with disabilities. Read more about the Gaskin Settlement here.

The Impact Fund, of Berkeley, CA, awarded the Law Center a $15,000 grant in support of our lawsuit, Blunt v. Lower Merion School District. The Impact Fund supports high-impact public interest litigation that will improve the lives of many with systemic change, in line with our own mission here at the Law Center. We are honored to have received this grant that will allow us to prepare a strong case in what promises to be a controversial lawsuit. Read more about the lawsuit.

The Independence Foundation has once again offered the Law Center and its individual supporters a challenge to raise $10,000 in new or increased gifts that will be matched dollar for dollar by the Foundation. Last year we successfully reached this goal and hope to do so again with your support! The Law Center plans to use the matching funds to improve our office technology infrastructure to more efficiently serve our clients, while using our supporters' gifts to directly fund programming expenses.

The Inglis Foundation has awarded  the Law Center's Disability Rights Project an Inglis Award for Continuing Excellence for 2009.  The award honors our work to enhance the quality of life and increase opportunities for independence for people with disabilities, and by doing so support the mission of the Foundation.

The Philadelphia Bar Foundation has awarded the Law Center a $13,000 grant for 2009-2010 to support the Law Center's operations and infrastructure.  We are extremely grateful for the foundation's loyal support.

The Philadelphia Foundation awarded the Law Center a $30,000 grant to allow the organization to engage in a strategic planning process. We are grateful to the Philadelphia Foundation and to the generous individuals who made this grant possible by establishing endowments through the Foundation. The endowments that funded the Law Center's grant are the Lillian Gest Memorial Fund, the Bertha C. Mayr Fund, the Mildred Gregg Loescher Fund, the Joshua D. and Elizabeth P. Twining Memorial Fund, the William J. McCahan 3rd Fund in memory of Thomas C. McCahan and Florence M. Mccahan and the Elizabeth F. Kyd Fund.

The United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania awarded the Law Center a Community Partners grant in 2008, UW logowhich is expected to be renewed for two additional years. The Law Center was one of 137 agencies selected to receive funding in a competitive process which drew 2,100 proposals from 546 agencies. The United Way placed no restrictions on the use of the funds, but provided them because of the Law Center's success in developing and enlisting public support for public policy changes and increased public resources that advance the United Way's community level goal of assuring that children succeed in school and graduate from high school. This is the first time the Law Center has received a grant from the United Way.

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CY PRES AWARDS
A "cy pres" award is the remainder in a monetary settlement after all plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit receive their awards. Cy pres awards are traditionally given to nonprofit organizations whose mission relates to the purpose of the lawsuit.

On January 30, 2008 The Law Center received a "cy pres" award from the Law Firm Chimicles & Tikellis LLP, the funds for which came from various cases in which the firm had been involved. We thank our board member Nicholas Chimicles who recommended the Law Center for this award.

On November 7, 2007, the Law Center was granted a "cy pres" award from the law firm Barrack Rodos & Bacine. We are grateful to our former board member Jeffrey Golan, co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the suit, for designating the Law Center for this award.

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link to children's health care

link to education funding and quality

link to disabilities rights

link to evironmental heath and justice

link to fair housing

link to employment discrimination

link to urban policing