Chadbourne & Parke LLP Honored For Helping
With Funding For 9/11 Recovery
City’s New Interfaith Disaster Agency Dedicates Facility Near Ground Zero to Chadbourne
New York, NY – May 25, 2004 – The international law firm of Chadbourne & Parke LLP was honored today by New York Disaster Interfaith Services, Inc. (NYDIS), the City’s new interfaith disaster agency. NYDIS dedicated a Disaster Resources and Training Center and the NYC 9/11 Unmet Needs Roundtable office donated by the Firm.
NYDIS, a federation of faith-based agencies that provide central planning, advocacy and disaster services formed to better coordinate post-9/11 recovery and to prepare for future disasters, is the home of the NYC 9/11 Unmet Needs Roundtable. It brings together Christians, Jews, Muslims and people of other faiths to coordinate their 9/11 Recovery efforts and to help faith communities and small community-based agencies to plan and train for disaster efforts.
With this generous gift, NYDIS will be able to use its new headquarters, located at 22 Cortlandt Street, across from Ground Zero, to coordinate programs, resources and training for 9/11 long-term recovery efforts, as well as for disaster planning and training support for the City’s faith-based social service agencies. NYDIS also shares the facility with Lutheran Disaster Response of New York, Koininia, the NYC 9/11 Unmet Needs Roundtable and the 9/11 Widow and Victim Families Association.
The move by the 102-year-old New York-based law firm was the most recent in its efforts to help the City, its citizens and institutions recover from the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. The Firm has housed members of the City’s Law Department after Sept. 11, done pro bono work for family members of victims in making 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund applications, and given over $300,000 in donations to five 9/11-related charities since 2001.
“We want to thank Chadbourne for this donation and express our profound gratitude for their generosity,” said NYDIS Executive Director and CEO Peter Gudaitis. “Without these kinds of thoughtful and compassionate acts, the underserved victims of 9/11 would not have the help they need to continue recovering from that terrible day.”
“We are happy to help, as we have done since 2001, to give these charities the aid they need to keep the recovery going,” said Chadbourne Managing Partner Charles K. O’Neill. “When we set up our Chadbourne & Parke Foundation after September 11th, we decided to find the charities that could best help the victims of 9/11. We will continue to do so as the needs remain.”
Added Mr. O’Neill: “We are honored to have the facility named after us, but more importantly, we are pleased that we could help NYDIS establish its headquarters. NYDIS’ mission becomes even more crucial as federal 9/11 support group funding declines.”
In November 2001, the Firm established the Chadbourne & Parke Foundation in response to the events of September 11th. The purpose of the Foundation is to make donations to charitable organizations that provide financial assistance to families and individuals impacted by the World Trade Center attack who might not otherwise receive the help they need. While the Firm recognized that many organizations and individuals were providing – and continue to provide – financial and other forms of assistance to victims of the September 11th attacks, the Firm believed that there were still victims with critical needs which it could help to meet.
The Chadbourne & Parke Foundation is the largest corporate donor to the NYC 9/11 Unmet Needs Roundtable, and is represented at the Roundtable by Episcopal Charities of the Diocese of New York, also a donor and a founding member of NYDIS. The Roundtable is a consortium of 14 donor agencies and 85 case management agencies which has convened bi-weekly over the past three years to review and fund the unmet needs of 9/11 victims who do not qualify for assistance from any other source. NYDIS administers the program as a service to donors and social service agencies.
Other 9/11-related help offered by Chadbourne has included:
Housing more than 100 attorneys and staff of the City’s Law Department for almost eight months after September 11th; as a result, New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg honored the Firm by proclaiming May 17, 2002, “Chadbourne & Parke Day.”
Handling numerous pro bono cases for 9/11 victims, including helping three families win awards from the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund.
Currently representing Brooklyn Remembers, Inc., an organization formed by members of Community Board Districts 10 and 11 in Brooklyn, the New York City Arts Commission and the New York City Parks Department, to establish a memorial monument dedicated to the victims of 9/11 to be built on the 69th Street Pier in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. It is anticipated that the new memorial monument will be unveiled on September 11, 2004.
About Chadbourne & Parke LLP
Chadbourne & Parke LLP, an international law firm headquartered in New York City, provides a full range of legal services, including mergers and acquisitions, securities, project finance, corporate finance, energy, telecommunications, commercial and products liability litigation, securities litigation and regulatory enforcement, white collar defense, intellectual property, antitrust, domestic and international tax, reinsurance and insurance, environmental, real estate, bankruptcy and financial restructuring, employment law and ERISA, trusts and estates and government contract matters. The Firm has offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Houston, Moscow, Kyiv, Warsaw (through a Polish partnership), Beijing and a multinational partnership, Chadbourne & Parke, in London. For additional information, visit chadbourne.com.
