Crains New York - November 19, 2012 - (Page 30)

PAUL CHAPMAN by Ali Elkin Continued from Page 29 said Mr. Hendler, whose Russian client won his case and is now pursuing a college degree in New York City. Pro bono work is on the rise among top legal firms, and some of the city’s best-known legal eagles are leading the charge.The City Bar Justice Center leveraged $18 million of pro bono time in 2010 and $20 million in 2011, despite and perhaps because of the recession. “The need for pro bono has gone up with the increase in poverty and homelessness in New York City,” said Lynn Kelly, executive director of the center. Those needs are expected to increase exponentially in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The types of cases range from human rights and domestic violence to education. The biggest jump has been in consumer debt cases, as well as group clinics for one-shot legal advice. so-called Zadroga Act are immigrants who speak little English and can’t afford their own legal representation, particularly after paying many of their medical expenses out of pocket. But Ms. Levine, conversant in complex tort issues and the personal-injury settlement process, is able to quickly determine who has a case and direct her more junior volunteers as they walk these ‘Making a living doing this is a privilege’ workers through the confusing paperwork. While some clock in their firm’s required pro bono hours, many attorneys need to feel a personal connection to the cause that goes beyond the enthusiasm of their paying clients or senior partners’ pet projects. As someone who volunteered for the Red Cross in the aftermath of 9/11, Ms. Levine always wanted to do more, and this work fell right into her legal wheelhouse. “This is self-gratifying, easy and a pleasure, but I am not sure I understood that until after I found Aid for 9/11 victims Heidi Levine, a partner in DLA Piper’s global litigation practice, oversees free legal clinics provided by the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund for the first responders and cleaning crews seeking coverage for physical injuries and chronic illnesses caused by the hazards of working at the World Trade Center site. Many of the responders who may be entitled to funds from the what I was passionate about,” said Ms. Levine, who has put in about 75 hours since the VCF started a year ago. Jay Lefkowitz, a senior litigation partner at Kirkland & Ellis and an adjunct professor of administrative law at Columbia Law School, is equally fired up about his work in education reform. While his regular job involves white-collar defense, securities, intellectual property, antitrust and breach-ofcontract matters, he may be best known for his pro bono efforts fighting for the right of charter schools and other private or parochial institutions to coexist with the public-school system. The result of his efforts became the basis for the recent feature film Won’t Back Down, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, about a group of parents fighting against a corrupt teachers’ union in Pittsburgh, although the actual case took place in California. More relevant to New Yorkers is his defense of 19 New York City charter schools against a suit by the teachers’ union and other parties seeking to block their co-location within underused public-school buildings. The suit was part of a broader effort to challenge the city’s decision to close 22 poorly performing public schools. So far, the charter schools have prevailed. ABC Carpet sweeps up after superstorm P JURY OF THEIR PEERS LAST WEEK, the Lawyers Alliance for New York recognized eight individual lawyers for their pro bono work serving nonprofits through its Cornerstone Awards. Two firms—Skadden Arps Slate Meagher and Flom, and Herrick Feinstein—won awards for the breadth and extent of pro bono work that serves hundreds of clients. Indeed, so many top lawyers are doing pro bono work these days that Thomson Reuters’ Super Lawyers also decided to recognize them by launching its own Pro Bono Awards last year. This year, the number of nominations increased 50%, to more than 300 lawyers who donated legal services in fields ranging from Native American law to the fight against human trafficking. Winners will be announced in January. “People like to complain about lawyers when in fact they devote substantial time and effort to do good work for those who would not otherwise have access to legal services,” said Super Lawyers publisher Cindy Larson. —SAMANTHA MARSHALL Helping others A product of parochial schools and a father of three, Mr. Lefkowitz spends more than 15% of his time on this, his teaching and many other public-policy issues,all so he can provide options and foster competition within the education system. “Education reform runs deep in my own background,” he said. Other attorneys prefer to use their skill sets to benefit a broader range of issues. Top mergers and acquisitions lawyer Carl Reisner, a partner at Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, uses his acumen as a business lawyer to help struggling artists, micro-entrepreneurs looking to set up businesses in blighted neighborhoods and the gamut of nonprofits dedicated to everything from Holocaust remembrance to athletics for underprivileged children. He spends about 10% of his billable time helping them with corporate governance, contract negotiations and other commercial relationships,so that they can make better use of scarce resources in a struggling economy. “I view it as my job to help them achieve their mission,” said Mr. Reisner, who ramped up his pro bono work in the past few years because the recession created a growing need at charitable organizations. These groups don’t necessarily reflect his personal passions, but, he said, that’s not the point. “Making a living doing this is a privilege,” he said. “Part of the deal is to spend some time helping others who can’t afford it.” aul Chapman, ABC Car- What happened here during the storm? pet & Home’s vice chair- This whole building is built over the man and president, over- river. So the river is really here. So in sees the company’s the center of the building there’s a flooring and carpeting 90-foot-round circle that goes about operations from a fortress-like 10 feet into the river that we use to Bronx warehouse and outlet show- constantly pump the water and cirroom built on the Bronx River and culate the water back into the river. equipped with its very own pumping But when you have the combination of a windstorm and a rainstorm and system. Still, it was no match for Super- a river situation, then you get hit. storm Sandy. Surging waters filled the entire basement and seeped out What needs to get fixed? onto the sales floor, destroying mer- We didn’t lose much merchandise. chandise. Mr. Chapman’s team had We’re able to bounce back fast, but prepared by moving most of the we have to do a new escalator, a new company’s products to higher floors elevator. Nobody got hurt, so everything’s replaceable. That’s all that and platforms. But the high winds broke more matters to me. I have a good team of than 100 windows on the top floor, people around me. They actually letting in enough rainwater to ruin helped put the place back together pretty fast. much of the flooring showroom. Despite the damage, which ABC cannot yet quantify, Mr. Chapman To an outsider, it looks like barely anything happened. was in high spirits at the It took all my people workshowroom’s in-house café ing around the clock 24 about a week after the hours to redo the store. We storm. The small eatery painted the floors, we sits on one of the building’s ripped up the floors that upper floors and acts as a ABC CAFÉ at the were destroyed, and we got place where shoppers can ABC Carpet & back to work. deposit spouses and chilHome Warehouse dren before browsing Outlet, 1055 Bronx River Ave., I imagine a lot of people need undisturbed. Bronx to put in new floors and Tucking into a plate of (718) 842-8770 carpets after the storm. Bronx-style comfort food (warehouse) And we will help them the prepared for ABC emAMBIENCE: best we can. We believe in ployees, Mr. Chapman exBright, decorated giving back to the complained how the warewith bits of ABC history, photos of munity. There will be a lot house will recover. the warehouse’s of schools coming to us, a rooftop garden What is your role at ABC? lot of shelters. We’ve doand an eclectic Total running of the entire nated carpets to churches mix of tables and chairs warehouse operations and and synagogues in the floor-covering division. area. WHAT THEY ATE: WHERE THEY DINED And the role of the warehouse? This is basically our warehouse for the New York store for floor coverings and our warehouse outlet. Basically, whatever we don’t sell in New York, we ship here. Who usually shops here? Chicken fricassee, rice and spaghetti with tomato sauce, sides of roasted red peppers and salad TAB: Free for staff, $10 for guests Have any of those people come to you yet? We’ve gotten some phone calls. How would you describe the food here at the ABC Café? We get a lot of designers, a lot of people from Westchester and Connecticut. People who really don’t want to go into the city. We have our own wood we produce. All the handmade woods are made here in the South Bronx. It’s considered the best wood in the country, and we just actually came out with a private line for Donald Trump. This is the best chicken, rice and spaghetti dish in the South Bronx. For the people from Westchester and Connecticut who come here [to shop], they really like eating this food. It’s all fresh. A lot of them are originally from the Bronx, so it brings back good memories. Where are you from? South Bronx. Fort Apache. I swam this river. istockphoto its property, building systems, vehicles, escalators and elevators. INSIDE TIP: The outlet suffered damage to 30 | Crain’s New York Business | November 19, 2012 newscom Taking on the right fight SOURCE LUNCH:

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - November 19, 2012

IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
SMALL BUSINESS
BUSINESS PEOPLE
OPINION
GREG DAVID
REAL ESTATE DEALS
OWNED COMPANIES
THE LIST
CLASSIFIEDS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crains New York - November 19, 2012