Shearman & Sterling was selected by the New York State Bar Association as the recipient of this year’s President’s Pro Bono Service Award in the large law firm category. The awards ceremony was held on May 5 in Albany as part of the Association’s Law Day celebration.

The firm was nominated by New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Lawyers Alliance for New York and the Legal Aid Society, all of which have worked closely with the firm on pro bono matters. Nominees are evaluated based on the breadth and scope of the law firm’s pro bono involvement and its active and successful promotion of pro bono service by firm attorneys.

“I am very pleased that we have been selected for this award,” said Saralyn Cohen, Shearman & Sterling’s Pro Bono Counsel and Director of Pro Bono. “The award highlights the firm’s longstanding belief that engaging in pro bono work is an essential part of every lawyer’s practice.”

The firm’s recent pro bono projects include representing the Natural Resources Defense Council in connection with the NRDC Food Law Initiative Project, acting as co-counsel in a certified federal class action litigation against Suffolk County alleging unconstitutional conditions at two correctional facilities, securing an important victory involving the New York Police Department’s controversial "stop-and-frisk" practices, and representing a defendant seeking a writ of habeas corpus to reverse a 30-year-old homicide conviction.