The Law Center extends a heartfelt thank you to the nearly 250 attendees who
joined us on May 14, 2008 for a Symposium and Dinner celebration in honor of
Thomas K. Gilhool's Extraordinary Legacy of Service and Vision. The Law Center
is especially grateful to the following businesses, organizations and
individuals who generously sponsored the event:
SPONSORS:
BENEFACTORS:
Temple University Beasley School of Law - Dean Robert J. Reinstein
PATRONS:
Achieva
The Arc of Pennsylvania
The Arc of Philadelphia
Blank Rome LLP
Jennifer Clarke and Alan Barstow
Drexel University College of Law
James and Cynthia Eiseman
Eleanor S. Elkin
Anne and William Ewing
Haines & Associates
Hoyle, Fickler, Herschel & Mathes, LLP
Dr. Harriet and Donald Joseph
Michael Lehr and Linda Pennington
Carla Morgan
PECO
Alan M. Sandals and Alisa G. Field
David and Gayle R. Smith
Vision for Equality
Senator Harris Wofford
Dan Wofford
FRIENDS:
Patricia Amos
Tom Blackburn
Nicholas Chimicles
Pat and Harry Clapp
Elias S. Cohen
Dilworth Paxson LLP
Carrie and Brian Feeney
Seth M. Gallanter
Nancy Gellman
Wendy and Richard Glazer
Jeffrey W. Golan
Matt and Louise Gutt
F. John Hagele and Patricia Hunt
Institute for Educational Equity and Opportunity
Gary Ledebur and Diane Castelbuono
Ken Crest
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
H. Laddie Montague, Jr.
Pepper Hamilton LLP
Eric J. Rothschild
Paul Saint-Antoine
Syracuse University School of Education
The Philadelphia Foundation
David H. Wice & Betsy Wice
Barton J. Winokur
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 39 firms made a donation
to the Law Center for 2007:
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, LLP
Bazelon, Less & Feldman, P.C.
Berger & Montague, P.C.
Blank Rome LLP
Bolognese & Associates, LLC
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, PC
Chimicles & Tikellis LLP
Christie, Pabarue, Mortensen and Young
Dechert LLP
Dilworth Paxson LLP
DLA Piper US LLP
Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP
Duane Morris LLP
Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC
Fineman Krekstein & Harris, P.C.
Fox Rothschild LLP
Freemann Law Offices
Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Hangley Aronchick Segal & Pudlin
Harkins Cunningham LLP
Kralik & Associates Law Offices
Law Offices of Margaret A. McCausland
Levin, Fishbein, Sedran & Berman
Law Offices of Caren Litvin LLC
Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox, LLP
Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin
Martin, Banks, Pond & Lehocky
Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, LLP
Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, P.C.
Pepper Hamilton LLP
Raynes McCarty
Reed Smith LLP
Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP
Shrager, Spivey and Sachs
Swartz Campbell LLC
White & Williams LLP
Wolf Block Schorr & Solis-Cohen LLP
Woodcock Washburn LLP
Zarwin, Baum, DeVito, Kaplan, Schaer & Toddy PC
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 First United Methodist Church of Germantown has 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 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 United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania has awarded the Law Center a
grant of $12,090, which 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.
The Philadelphia Foundation has awarded the Law Center an $18,000 grant
for capacity building. 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 Henry Griffith and Anna Griffith Keasbey Fund, the Malinda R.
Farrow Fund, and the House of Rest Endowment Fund. The grant will allow the Law
Center to conduct a Nonprofit Business Analysis to strengthen its
organizational infrastructure.
The Impact Fund, of Berkeley, CA, has awarded the Law Center a $15,000 grant in
support of our class action 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 - very much 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 on our Disabilites Rights in Education page.
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 Institute for Educational Equity and Opportunity (IFEEO)'s grant to the Law Center
will fund a student fellow to assist in preparing an article about the Law
Center's work in the field of school finance reform advocacy and litigation for
inclusion in a publication outlining strategies for this work that will serve as
a resource for others. Read more about this project on our Education Funding and Quality Page.
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 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. The Law Center will remain involved to help analyze the data
and determine next steps to continue to improve care for these children. Read
more about the case on our Children's Health Care page.
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 Barack Rodos & Bacine. We are grateful to our board member Jeffrey Golan,
co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the suit, for designating the Law Center
for this award.
