San Francisco Associate Alison Hong was honored with a 2014 California Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award at a formal reception last Friday, September 12, 2014 as a part of the 87th State Bar Annual Meeting in San Diego, Calif. The award was presented to Alison by State Bar President Luis J. Rodriguez and California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye (pictured below).

Alison_Hong_Recipient

Alison was one of nine recipients honored and the only to receive recognition in the Distinguished Pro Bono Service category, which highlights effort that is innovative, collaborative and went above and beyond the call of duty. Alison’s commitment to pro bono began early in her legal career as Pro Bono Committee Co-Chair of the Korean American Bar Association of Northern California (KABANC). She has organized two pro bono legal clinics per year since 2011 for which she coordinates outreach and publicity, recruits volunteers, prescreens clients, schedules consultations, matches clients with volunteer attorneys who have the appropriate expertise, pairs English speaking attorneys with Korean speaking law students to assist non- and limited-English speaking clients and supervises the clinic overall.

Each of the two clinics held in 2013 served more than 50 participants in the areas of immigration, family law, contract disputes, personal injury, government benefits and other general civil matters. Although difficult to promote the clinic to Korean Americans who live in more rural areas or who do not have access to the Korean language newspaper, Alison was able to reach them by utilizing a network of Korean American churches. As a result of her efforts, a platform has been created on which KABANC members can engage in pro bono and serve a community that previously lacked access to legal services due to geographic and language barriers.

Jackson Lewis congratulates Alison along with all the outstanding recipients of the 2014 President’s Pro Bono Service Awards for helping to close the justice gap through their donation of time and expertise to assist those who would not otherwise have access to legal services.

•Recently Admitted: Thomas Feledy (San Carlos)

•Recently Admitted: Lindsey Martinez (Costa Mesa)

•Solo Practitioner: Keith Hiatt (Sunnyvale)

•Solo Practitioner: Ciarán O’Sullivan (San Francisco)

•Individual from a Law Firm: Charles Crompton (San Francisco)

•Individual from a Law Firm: Michael O’Halloran (San Diego)

•Law Firm Branch Office: Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP (Costa Mesa)

•Law Firm Branch Office: McDermott Will & Emery LLP (Los Angeles)

•Distinguished Pro Bono Service: Alison Hong (San Francisco)