LSHV's 2019 Equal Access to Justice Dinner raises over $550,000

WHITE PLAINS, NY – On Tuesday, April 9th, Legal Services of the Hudson Valley (LSHV) – the only provider of comprehensive civil legal services to those that cannot afford an attorney in the seven counties of the lower and mid-Hudson Valley – hosted its 2019 Equal Access to Justice Dinner. The 2019 Access to Justice Award recipients included John M. Flannery, Esq., former LSHV Board Member and Regional Managing Partner of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP; Mastercard’s Law, Franchise & Integrity Group; and Julie Kinch, Esq., Senior Vice President & Chief Legal Officer at HEINEKEN USA. The record-setting event, which sold out for the third year in a row, was held at the Doral Arrowwood in Rye Brook and gathered almost 500 businesses and individuals in support of LSHV’s efforts to provide free civil legal services to children and families throughout the Hudson Valley.

The event was co-chaired by Christopher Cabanillas of Cabanillas & Associates, P.C. and Russell Yankwitt of Yankwitt LLP. The event raised over $550,000, led by longtime partners and supporters, DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr, LLP and Mastercard Incorporated International, who were the Presenting Sponsors. In addition, the event received support from: Diamond Sponsors – Boies Schiller Flexner LLP; Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP; and Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP; Platinum Sponsors – Cabanillas & Associates, P.C.; HEINEKEN USA; Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP; PepsiCo; Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP; and Yankwitt LLP; and Gold Sponsors – Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP; Collier Halpern & Newberg, LLP; FUJIFILM Holdings America Corp.; Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP; and MBIA Inc.

CEO Barbara Finkelstein summed up the importance of LSHV’s services, saying, “At LSHV our work impacts the most basic necessities of life, and our most important goal is to ensure that vulnerable households don’t lose their homes, health care, food and subsistence income. With no general right to counsel in civil matters, low income and vulnerable individuals continue to flock to LSHV for help when facing civil legal matters affecting basic human needs. In more than 70% of civil cases and 98% of eviction cases, people who can’t afford legal representation end up going to court alone – and many lose everything.”

She also introduced two of LSHV’s former clients and premiered a video about their stories, which can be viewed online here. After the video was shown, emcee and auctioneer Bobby Valentine led a Fund-a-Need that raised more than $120,000.

LSHV is the only provider of free, comprehensive civil (non-criminal) legal services to low-income and disadvantaged individuals and families who cannot afford an attorney when their basic human needs are at stake. This includes urgent legal needs such as: domestic violence (orders of protection, child custody, etc.), housing emergencies (eviction and foreclosure prevention), healthcare, children's law and advocacy, disability and benefits, elder law, consumer fraud and more. Founded more than 50 years ago, LSHV serves the seven counties of the lower and mid-Hudson Valley (Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Rockland, Orange, Ulster and Sullivan), maintaining a staff of 145 individuals – including 90 attorneys and 30 paralegals – working across ten offices throughout its service area.

For more information about Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, to volunteer, or contribute, please visit www.lshv.org, or contact Tom Gabriel, Chief Development Officer, at 914-949-1305 x160.

(L-R): Timothy Murphy, Mastercard International Incorporated; Julie Kinch, HEINEKEN USA; Russell Yankwitt, Yankwitt LLP; Vanessa Kaye Watson, Mastercard International Incorporated; Barbara Finkelstein, LSHV’s CEO; Christopher Cabanillas, Cabanillas & Associates, P.C.; John M. Flannery, Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP; and Paul Adler, Rand Commercial