Lawyers Alliance honored Yen-Yi Anderson for New York pro bono leadership this week, designating her as recipient of the 2023 Cornerstone Award. The Cornerstone Award is granted to individuals who provide exceptional counsel to non-profits in need of pro bono assistance.
"We especially commend you for encouraging such a robust pro bono practice among your Associates, and recognize the time and dedication it takes to do this work as a small team," Lawyers Alliance said in a letter to Ms. Anderson.
"I'm grateful for this award," shared Ms. Anderson, Managing Principal of Anderson and Associates, in a statement. "I dedicate it to all the non-profits that are doing the amazing and challenging work required to make our city and society a better place for ourselves and our future generations."
Ms. Anderson and her team at Anderson and Associates assisted several non-profits including Dress for Success, Peace is Loud, and Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey. With Dress for Success, the firm provided immigration law support for a new hire.
"Yen-Yi made the process painless," said Aslee Sampson, People & Culture Lead for Dress for Success Worldwide.
Ms. Anderson expressed thanks to Lawyers Alliance for putting together a powerful coalition of legal leaders with the heart for service to the betterment of others. She also thanked her talented team that has assisted her with these cases.
"Helping others is already a rewarding experience for us, and I am surprised and honored to receive the Cornerstone Award on behalf of my team," she said.
Yen-Yi has been a Lawyers Alliance volunteer since Anderson and Associates launched its pro bono program in late spring, 2022, with the Alliance as a launch partner. Anderson and Associates, a boutique business and immigration law firm, launched its pro-bono division with the help of high school interns from The Chapin School.
"Each of our Chapin interns played an integral role in launching our pro bono program. The interns helped envision the program; put together benchmark research from other programs for inspiration and comparison; interviewed our team for ideas on how to make the program work within our firm's context; presented the program proposal to our firm for adoption; and then following through on the approved proposal by contacting partners, onboarding cases, and contributing substantially to positive case outcomes."
Despite the firm's boutique size, Anderson and Associates has a big vision to make the world a brighter place through business law. Helping non-profits along with Lawyers Alliance fits perfectly within this vision, and Ms. Anderson and her team plan to collaborate with Lawyers Alliance even more in the future.
