Los Angeles—In recognition of outstanding work on behalf of civil rights and civil liberties, Sidley will receive the 2012 Access to Justice Award at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California’s 18th Annual Law Luncheon Friday, June 8, at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.
Sidley receives the award in recognition of the team’s extraordinary work on the Rodriguez v. Hayes matter, which challenges the federal government’s practice of subjecting non-citizens to prolonged detention without bond hearings. Partner Sean A. Commons along with associate Cody J. Jacobs, both in the firm’s Los Angeles office, will accept the Award on behalf of the team, which includes Legal Assistant Eva A. Fitzhugh and Litigation Support Analyst Steven Hlynski.
“Sidley is honored to have been a part of the team representing Alejandro Rodriguez,” said Michael C. Kelley, the managing partner of Sidley’s Los Angeles office. “Mr. Rodriguez’s case is an effort to protect the rights of the thousands of detainees each year that are subjected to an unlawful prolonged detention while they fight their immigration cases.”
In 2010, Sidley was also awarded the ACLU 2010 Humanitarian Award for work on this case. “It is an honor to continue Sidley’s long history of supporting the ACLU in Los Angeles, and particularly our involvement in an effort to preserve fundamental Due Process rights,” said Mr. Commons, the partner leading Sidley’s efforts.
Sidley Austin LLP is one of the world’s premier full-service law firms, with approximately 1700 lawyers practicing in 18 U.S. and international cities, including Beijing, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, London, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. This year, Sidley celebrates 30 years in Asia. Repeating its performance in the inaugural 2010 survey, Sidley received the most first-tier national rankings of any U.S. law firm in the 2011/12 U.S.News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” survey. Sidley was also named the U.S.News – Best Lawyers “Law Firm of the Year” in both Corporate Law and Securities Regulation in the 2011/12 survey (the first year of such designations). BTI, a Boston-based research and consulting firm, has named Sidley as one of only three firms to have been in the top ten of the BTI Client Service rankings every year since the inception of those rankings in 2001, and as number one in three of those years.
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