During the past week, Civil Rights Director and Staff Attorney Amara Chaudhry has engaged in multiple activities towards her goal of strengthening the relationship between CAIR-Philadelphia and the larger Philadelphia-area legal community.
First, over the past two weeks, Amara has made presentations to numerous law firms during the “Pro Bono Road Shows” conducted as part of Philadelphia’s celebration National Pro Bono Week. During the Pro Bono Road Shows, representatives from numerous Philadelphia-based legal service nonprofits travel to several large Philadelphia-area law firms and make brief presentations (2-3 minutes per presenter) regarding pro bono opportunities at their respective agencies. The law firms at which Amara was a presenter included Duane Morris LLP, Morgan Lewis & Blockius LLP, Saul Ewing LLP, and Schnader Harrison LLP.
During her presentations, Amara explained that she is currently recruiting pro bono attorneys to assist in three areas: (1) school bullying, (2) Know Your Rights presentations, and (3) legal intake, advice, and referral. Amara also offered to return to any interested law firm to provide a free continuing legal education training program which teaches lawyers how to litigate a school bullying case, without any requirement that attending attorneys accept a pro bono case from CAIR-Philadelphia before receiving CLE credit.
Second, Amara was honored to present a Lifetime Achievement Award to attorney Peter Goldberger during a VIP Reception at the ACLU of Pennsylvania’s Annual Bill of Rights Dinner. During her speech, Amara noted that she had been mentored by Mr. Goldberger since arriving in Pennsylvania as a newly-relocated public defender, through her position as legal director at other Philadelphia-area legal service agencies, and continuing now in her positions at both CAIR-Philadelphia and as a Board Member and Legal Committee Member for the ACLU of Philadelphia.
