Philadelphia, Oct. 28, 2009 – Continuing the innovative service theme weaved into the World Series bets of Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter and New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Philadelphia City Solicitor Shelley R. Smith and New York City Corporation Counsel Michael A. Cardozo today announced their own bet designed to inspire volunteerism and pro bono service.
The friendly wager, hinged on which team wins the Phillies/Yankees 2009 World Series match-up, will revolve around expanding a theme “near and dear” to both the Mayors and their chief legal officials – promoting volunteerism generally, and educational and career opportunities for children in particular.
Specifically, the legal officials have agreed to the following:
Whichever team loses, the chief legal official from the losing city will travel to the other city, along with a team of leading attorneys and staff.
The friendly exchange will take place before June 2010.
Members of the visiting legal team will volunteer in every borough (in New York City) or county (in Philadelphia) to ensure that their presence is appreciated by the entire city – and their inspiration is widespread.
The volunteer efforts will include moot court/mock trial events, as well as career chats with school children by the losing city’s legal team, including the losing city’s chief legal officer.
The visiting team will don the winning city’s sports jerseys during the visit.
The officials from both cities are using it as an opportunity to promote pro bono work among their respective city and state bar associations – especially with this being “National Pro Bono Week.” (According to this week’s New York Law Journal, Michael Getnick, the President of the New York State Bar Association, announced that his group was “joining the American Bar Association and local bar associations…in celebrating the first-ever National Pro Bono Week [through] Oct. 31st.”)
This afternoon’s bet was inspired by an agreement announced yesterday between Mayor Nutter and Mayor Bloomberg. The joint Philadelphia-New York City press release issued from City Hall in New York yesterday afternoon noted that this was “the first-of-its kind wager on the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies.” It continued, “The losing mayor will travel to the winning city to join the winning mayor in a volunteer service project, while wearing a jersey from the winning team.”
Cardozo and Smith announced their respective bets with a mix of excitement and fanfare.
“The real winner of this bet is the community who will benefit from the spirit of pro bono service embodied in this water,” noted Smith. “After the Phillies win, perhaps Counselor Cardozo can take the train down with Mayor Bloomberg to make good on their bets together.”
“Them’s fighting words!” joked Cardozo. “Seriously, though, this is a wonderful opportunity to expand the spirit of volunteerism espoused by both of our fine mayors,” he added. “Moreover, it allows each of our offices to give inspiration to many schoolchildren and provide them with a window to careers in the legal community, be it as lawyers, paralegals, court officers, judges or other legal officials – even city solicitors and corporation counsels! Finally, it gives us an important opportunity to support efforts by our local, state and nationwide bar associations to encourage pro bono work and volunteerism among legal professionals across the country.”
Today’s bet echoes a tradition of public service embraced by both city’s legal departments and chief legal officers.
Pro Bono Work of the Philadelphia Law Department
The Philadelphia Law Department strongly encourages its attorneys to supplement the valuable public service they provide in their positions with the Law Department by also offering service to the broader community through pro bono activities. Law Department attorneys have participated in programs such as the Homeless Advocacy Project, which provides assistance to homeless individuals with such tasks as securing social security cards and driver’s licenses to assist in finding jobs and housing, Philadelphia’s Volunteers for the Indigent Project (VIP), which provides low-cost or free legal services to Philadelphia citizens in need of legal representation but without means to secure such representation, and various programs offered through the Philadelphia Bar Association, including the Advancing Civics Education (ACE). In fact, just last week, the Mayor of Philadelphia honored the extensive pro bono work of a senior attorney with the Philadelphia Law Department by conferring a Mayoral Citation upon that attorney.
Law Department attorneys and staff also provide service to their community through various food drives, book drives and other fundraising activities.
Pro Bono Work of the New York City Law Department
In New York City, the Law Department has partnered in the last year with the New York Court of Appeals Chief Judge, Jonathan Lippman, and created “NYC Legal Outreach,” one of the several initiatives involving the encouragement of volunteerism, to encourage more attorneys to provide pro bono service in the areas of mortgage foreclosures, evictions, immigration, and consumer credit/debt.
Law Department attorneys and staff also provide volunteer support for public schools in a variety of ways: raising funds for supplies, speaking at Career Days, coaching and judging moot court and moot trial competitions; and mentoring individual students.
Public Service Traditions of City Solicitor Shelley R. Smith
Appointed by Philly Mayor Nutter in January 2008, Shelley R. Smith returned to the Law Department as City Solicitor after two years in private practice. Her commitment to the public good is reflected in her efforts to enhance Philly’s legal community by serving in key municipal roles. From 1992 until early 2006, Smith was a trial lawyer and supervisor in the City’s Law Department, where her practice focused on federal constitutional tort litigation. During the last seven years of her tenure in the Department, Smith headed the Affirmative Litigation Unit, the Labor and Employment Unit, and the Corporate and Tax Group, a position she held upon her departure in 2006. As a trial lawyer for the City, Smith tried some of the City’s most prominent legal matters to verdict. In total, Smith was lead counsel at the trials of nearly 60 federal civil rights matters, and she litigated hundreds more equally high-profile cases. She was named a Philadelphia SuperLawyer by Philadelphia Magazine in 2005. She is a member and past Chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Commission on Judicial Selection and Retention, and a member of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Advisory Board of Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts. In addition, Smith has participated as a team leader in the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Advancing Civics Education (ACE) program, providing supplemental civics education to students in Philadelphia’s public high schools, including Smith’s alma mater, Philadelphia High School for Girls.
Public Service Traditions of Corporation Counsel Michael A. Cardozo
Cardozo, a former partner at the law firm Proskauer Rose LLP, has long been active in the public service and bar organizations. From 1996 to 1998, he was President of the 21,000-member Association of the Bar of the City of New York. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a member of the Board of Directors of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, The American Law Institute, and the Executive Committee of the Lawyers Division of the Anti-Defamation League. His numerous previous outside activities include serving as Chair of the Columbia Law School Board of Visitors, Chair of the Fund for Modern Courts, Chair (by appointment of the Governor and Chief Judge) of both the New York State Joint Committee on Judicial Administration and the New York State Task Force on the Appellate Divisions, and, in the mid-1970s, Counsel to Governor Hugh Carey’s Task Force on Court Reform. Just last week, the Corporation Counsel volunteered at the Brooklyn Latin School in Brooklyn, N.Y, in a “Principal for a Day” celebration aimed to teach inner-city kids about career opportunities in the law.
About the Philadelphia Law Department
Under the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter, the City Solicitor is the chief legal officer and counselor for the City. The City Solicitor represents the Mayor, and his Administration, City Council and more than 30 City departments, commissions and agencies. The City Solicitor is a member of the Mayor’s Cabinet, and manages the Law Department. The City of Philadelphia Law Department employs approximately 165 attorneys and is responsible for providing legal advice to all officers, departments, boards, and commissions within the City concerning any matter arising in connection with the exercise of their official powers. The nearly 45,000 matters the Philadelphia Law Department handles include the collection of all fines, taxes and other debts owed the City, the representation of the City and its officers in litigation, the preparation of ordinances for introduction in City Council, and the negotiation and preparation of City contracts. Attorneys for the Philadelphia Law Department regularly provide pro bono service in the Philadelphia community, including service to the Volunteers for the Indigent Program (“VIP”), which provides low and no-cost legal representation for Philadelphians without the means to secure legal representation. For more information about the City of Philadelphia’s Law Department, please visit phila.gov/law.
About the New York City Law Department
Michael A. Cardozo oversees more than 650 attorneys in the 17 divisions of the New York City Law Department, which traces its origins back to 1683. It ranks in the top three largest law offices in New York City, and is among the largest public law offices in the country. The Law Department has an active caseload of 90,000 matters and transactions, covering a wide diversity of subject matters including Environmental Law, Contracts, Tort, Labor & Employment, Tax & Bankruptcy and Family Court. You can find out more about the NYC Law Department at nyc.gov/law.
Posted by City of Philadelphia 
