Finalists Show How Trial Lawyers Work Together for the Public Good
The TLPJ Foundation in Washington, D.C., has named seven New York attorneys as finalists for its 2006 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award for reaffirming our fundamental Constitutional rights to due process and equal protection in Elmaghraby v. Ashcroft .
The nationally prestigious award is bestowed annually upon the trial lawyer or lawyers who have made the greatest contribution to the public interest by trying or settling a precedent-setting case. The winner will be announced on July 18, 2006, at The TLPJ Foundation’s Annual Gala and Awards Dinner at The Museum of Flight in Seattle.
The finalists – a total of 38 lawyers in seven cases – were nominated for their work in cases addressing a range of issues, including fighting for water contamination victims, providing healthcare for low-income children, holding the U.S. accountable for Holocaust-Era looting, protecting homeowners from radiation hazards, blowing the whistle on war profiteering, cleaning up lead paint contamination, and preserving constitutional rights post-September 11th.
This year’s finalists from New York are listed below.
The U.S. government was held accountable for its shocking abuse of an Egyptian immigrant, thanks to the dedication and persistence of New York trial attorneys Haeyoung Yoon of the Urban Justice Center, Alexander A. Reinert, Joan Magoolaghan, Elizabeth Koob, and Keith Donoghue of Koob and Magoolaghan, and David Jackson Ball, Jr., and Mamoni Bhattacharyya of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. The attorneys in Elmaghraby v. Ashcroft achieved a precedent-setting $300,000 settlement for Elmaghraby – the first settlement by the government for its indiscriminate, sweeping arrests of Arab and South Asian Muslim immigrants in the wake of 9/11. It is also the government’s first settlement of claims for physical abuse and harsh conditions asserted by immigrants detained on the suspicion of terrorism.
“These impressive cases show how dedicated trial attorneys can take on even the most powerful and established institutions on behalf or wronged groups and individuals,” said TLPJ Foundation President Thomas M. Dempsey of The Law Offices of Thomas M. Dempsey in Los Angeles.
