WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — On October 25^th, Pace Law School was presented with the Seventh Annual PSLawNet Pro Bono Publico Award during the National Association for Public Interest Law Conference at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC.  Pace Law School received this honor in recognition of its outstanding example of public service as demonstrated by their contribution in the relief efforts in New York City after the September 11, 2001 tragedy.  Jennifer Corcoran and Michael Vatter two Pace Law School second-year students who were pivotal in organizing and managing this program accepted the award. 

Pace Law School was lauded for its commitment to the public interest in planning and executing a program that provided much needed legal assistance the surviving victims of the terrorist attacks.  The Pace Law School Disaster Assistance Program served as a mechanism for helping those affected by the World Trade Center Disaster to identify their legal needs and secure appropriate and timely legal representation. 

Over 200 Pace Law School students volunteered in this program and students with various language competencies including Spanish, Russian, Cantonese and Japanese were on hand.  Students underwent a two-hour training program to prepare them for their volunteer services and five faculty members were assigned to supervise the students.  Pace University counseling services and psychiatrists from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Forensic Psychiatry Residency program were available to help students prepare for the emotional state of the victims.

“This honor will mean so much to all the participating students.  We are very proud that this large number of students, almost all of whom must work part-time and many of whom are evening division students who had to take time off from their regular jobs, chose to spend a significant chunk of time preparing for and then performing this task,” said Vanessa Merton, Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Clinical Education at Pace Law School. “I hope and believe that these Pace students have internalized and will maintain a genuine commitment to making pro bono an integral part of their professional lives.”   

Founded in 1976, Pace Law School is located in White Plains, N.Y., 20 miles north of New York City. The School offers the J.D. program for full-time, and part-time day and evening students. Its post-graduate program includes the LL.M. and S.J.D. degrees in environmental Law and the LL.M. in Comparative Legal Studies. Pace has one of the nation's top-rated environmental law programs and its Clinical Education Program also is nationally ranked, offering clinics in domestic violence prosecution, securities arbitration.