Hunton & Williams LLP Receives Maryland Legal Services Corporation’s 2010 Herbert S. Garten Public Citizen Award

WASHINGTON, October 5, 2010 — Hunton & Williams LLP is pleased to announce the firm will receive the “2010 Herbert S. Garten Public Citizen Award” from the Maryland Legal Services Corporation in recognition of pro bono work for the Montgomery County Family Justice Center. Volunteers, including Suzan Kern, Ian Band, Deidre Duncan, and Lucinda Langworthy, from the firm’s Washington office, donate their time five afternoons a week at the Family Justice Center, located at 600 Jefferson Street in Rockville, Maryland. These volunteers assist immigrants who have been subjected to domestic violence under the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) and represent immigrants in humanitarian, material witness visa applications (U-Visas).

The Herbert S. Garten Public Citizen Award honors an entity or organization that has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to help increase access to justice for the poor in Maryland. Hunton & Williams will receive the award during Maryland Legal Services Corporation's annual award ceremony on December 6, at the Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore Hotel in Baltimore.

Immigration pro bono matters are a major priority for the firm. Hunton & Williams handled 126 pro bono immigration issues between January 1, 2009 and April 30, 2010. Lawyers in the firm's Atlanta, Dallas, New York, Richmond, and Washington offices dedicated 9,620 pro bono hours representing clients in obtaining asylum or post-asylum benefits; acting for detained and nondetained asylees in removal proceedings; filing asylum appeals to the Board of Immigration Appeals; advocating with USCIS for Haiti immigration relief; and devoting time to many other immigration-related legal services.

Hunton & Williams, recipient of the 2010 Beacon of Justice Award from the National Legal Aid & Defender Association and the 2009 Pro Bono Institute’s John H. Pickering Award, continues to lead the way in community service in the United States. The firm donated nearly 70,000 hours to pro bono service in its completed fiscal year ending March 31. This commemorates 16 continuous years of meeting or exceeding the Pro Bono Institute's Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge of donating at least 3 percent of its annual billable hours to pro bono service and involved 100 percent of the firm's full-time U.S. lawyers participating in pro bono projects.