June 18, 2015
On June 17, Willkie was honored by the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs with two Outstanding Achievement Awards. The awards were presented in recognition of the firm’s pro bono work with the Committee’s Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project in Perez v. ANB Café, Inc. et al and Doe v. RES Restaurants Inc. et al. In Perez, the firm obtained a favorable settlement for an undocumented worker who was denied overtime pay, despite working more than 80 hours per week, and paid less than her agreed wage at a local fast-food franchise. Doe was a sexual abuse and discrimination case brought by a young immigrant woman against a D.C. restaurant and its managers that was resolved after significant, contentious discovery and Court-supervised mediation.
The Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, founded in 1968, provides pro bono legal services to address discrimination and entrenched poverty in the greater DC metropolitan area, in large part by mobilizing the resources of the private bar.
The honors were presented at an awards ceremony in Washington, DC. The cases were handled by partners Elizabeth Bower and Joseph G. Davis, and associates Anna DiSalvo, Matthew Edwards, Robert Gomez, Janine Martin, Mirela Missova, Peter Nothstein and Caroline Van Wagoner.
