Pro Bono Work

One important component of our community involvement is our pro bono work. Our attorneys dedicate many hours each year to providing pro bono services, on an individual basis and through various formal programs, to those less fortunate who could not otherwise afford legal counsel.

In recognition of those efforts, Hancock Estabrook was honored in 2002 by the New York State Bar Association as recipient of the President's Pro Bono Service Award for the Fifth Judicial District. Our attorneys Martin L. Fried and Michael J. Sciotti were awarded the President's Pro Bono Service Award in 2007 and 2008, respectively. In 2011, John G. Powers won the award as a result of his work implementing a Veteran's Pro Bono Project and Legal Clinic, which has helped 55 veterans from 21 counties with their legal needs.

The Firm participates in the Onondaga County Volunteer Lawyers Program, representing tenants facing eviction in Syracuse City Court. We provide pro bono services through the Pro Bono Panel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York. For more than a decade, our attorneys have served as volunteer arbitrators for the Syracuse City Court Small Claims Arbitration Program, hearing and deciding civil disputes. Firm attorneys regularly volunteer their time to various "call-a-lawyer" programs and participate in efforts sponsored by several legal aid groups in the Central New York area, including Frank H. Hiscock Legal Aid Society, Legal Aid Society of Mid-New York, Inc. and Legal Services of Central New York, Inc.

Retired New York State Court of Appeals Judge Stewart F. Hancock, Jr., of counsel to the Firm, has filed amicus curiae briefs in two cases before the New York Court of Appeals, raising Constitutional challenges to New York State's death penalty statute.