19th Annual CUNY Public Interest Law Association Awards Ceremony and Auction
Friday, March 23, 2012
6:00 – 11:00 PM
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South
New York City

Dinner and open bar provided!

Help us raise money to enable CUNY students to devote their summers to public interest legal work!

2012 Honorees

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University, as well as director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. An influential cultural and literary critic, Professor Gates has written extensively for The New Yorker and the New York Times, and authored numerous books, most recently Black in Latin America and Faces of America, which expand on his critically acclaimed PBS documentaries.

Richard Levy, Partner, Levy Ratner, P.C.,  is a senior partner at Levy Ratner, P.C. He has practiced labor, employment, and civil rights law since 1971. Levy served as General Counsel of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, and represented the UAW in organizing campaigns at numerous universities on the East Coast. He has litigated a number of important employment discrimination class actions, most recently, United States & Vulcan Society v. City of New York, where he represents a class of African American applicants for firefighter jobs.

Jenny Rivera, CUNY Law Professor, CLORE Founder/Director,  is a Professor of Law at CUNY Law and the Founder of CUNY’s Center on Latino and Latina Rights and Equality (CLORE). She has served as an Administrative Law Judge of the New York State Division of Human Rights and as Special Deputy Attorney General for Civil Rights, where she assisted in the development and implementation of then Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s civil rights agenda. At CUNY, she is a respected professor and tireless advocate for students.

Local CUNY Law alums representing Occupy Wall Street.  Several CUNY Law Alumni central in the National Lawyers Guild’s efforts to defend and support the OWS protestors will be recognized as a group for their contributions.

General Admission tickets are $75, student tickets are $35 and student guest and low-income tickets are $40.

 2011 Honorees

Shirley Lung

Co-developer of CUNY academic support programs for students and distinguished professor, served on Board of Directors for Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Former Executive Director for the Center for Immigrants Rights, and low wage workers rights advocate.

Mimi Rosenberg

Staff attorney for Housing Practice at Legal Aid Society’s Brooklyn Neighborhood Office, and co-host of WBAI’s weekly radio program, “Building Bridges: Your Community-Labor Report.

Orlando Bagwell

Director of the Ford Foundation’s new JustFilms Initiative, and award winning film-maker and producer of films such as “Citizen King” and co-producer of “Eyes on the Prize.” Former program officer for the Ford Foundation’s initiative for Advancing Public Service Media and director of Ford’s Freedom of Expression work.