Joshua S. Sohn Wins Pro Bono Awards: Rising Star in DLA Piper's Litigation Practice Group

Summary

Joshua S. Sohn, an associate in the litigation practice group of DLA Piper, was recently honored with two pro bono awards for his outstanding service and accomplishments.

Joshua S. Sohn, an associate in the litigation practice group at DLA Piper, was recently honored with two distinct pro bono awards. He was recognized as the recipient of the 2018 Baltimore Bar Foundation's Pro Bono Champion Award. Additionally, the National Law Journal recognized his work as part of its Pro Bono Hot List in 2019.

The Baltimore Bar Foundation's Pro Bono Champion Award is typically awarded to a single recipient, in recognition of the individual's outstanding commitment to pro bono service through legal assistance to the community. Joshua's successful 40-hour pro bono representation of a widow, receiving Social Security disability benefits, resulted in a favorable judicial decision.

The National Law Journal's Pro Bono Hot List honors lawyers who have taken on significant pro bono work that has made a real difference. Joshua S. Sohn was selected for the honor among nominees from across the country, based on his successful efforts in obtaining a new trial for a lifelong convicted felon.

The Managing Partner of DLA Piper, Roger Meltzer, noted that Joshua's awards were a testament to his commitment to pro bono work and dedication to the accessibility of justice. He shared that the firm's commitment to pro bono service perseveres despite the demands of the practice and the ever-evolving legal landscape.

Joshua S. Sohn, an associate with the litigation practice group of DLA Piper, is a pro bono rising star. He was recently honored with two awards in recognition of his remarkable service and achievements: the 2018 Baltimore Bar Foundation's Pro Bono Champion Award and the National Law Journal's Pro Bono Hot List in 2019. Sohn's 40-hour pro bono representation of a widow led to a favorable court decision and his successful efforts in obtaining a new trial for a lifelong convicted felon earned him national recognition. DLA Piper Managing Partner, Roger Meltzer, commended Sohn for his commitment to pro bono work and justice.
 

Joshua S. Sohn, an associate in the litigation practice group of DLA Piper, is a Rising Law Star

Joshua S. Sohn, an associate in the litigation practice group of DLA Piper in the US, is a Rising Law Star and won two awards from the DC Bar Pro Bono Center. The awards, which were presented on the 8th of November this year, recognized his outstanding pro bono contributions to the community.
 

Joshua S Sohn Earns Two Awards from the DC Bar Pro Bono Center

The first award that Sohn earned was the William J. Brennan Pro Bono Award. This award is presented to a lawyer who has given exceptional service in terms of contributing to the legal needs of the underprivileged in the community. The second award that Sohn received was the “Young Lawyer Pro Bono Award”, which is conferred upon an attorney who has offered an exemplary level of service to meet the legal requirements of those in need of representation.
 

Joshua S Sohn's Pro Bono Contributions

Sohn's niche at DLA Piper is commercial litigation. Nevertheless, he has dedicated substantial amounts of time and effort to pro bono causes. His pro bono work includes taking on appeals on behalf of indigent clients before the DC Court of Appeals and representing clients who are seeking asylum.
 

Joshua S Sohn's Career to Date

Joshua S. Sohn graduated magna cum laude in 2011 from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. During his student years, he interned with the US District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Ramaz School. After graduating, Sohn worked as a litigation associate at a law firm in New York where he worked as a trial lawyer and was involved in challenging civil lawsuits. He also took on pro bono immigration cases. Later, he joined DLA Piper as an associate in the firm's litigation practice group. Sohn is a Rising Law Star because of his pro bono work and his specialism in civil litigation.

<< For Joshua Sohn, pro bono work is a personal and public obligation. The public interest side is obvious, but personally, Sohn believes pro bono is an obvious way to become a better, more rounded attorney.

Sohn, 32, is seeing his hard work is paying off. Recently, he received the New York State Bar Association President's Pro Bono Award in the Young Lawyer category and the Center for Constitutional Rights Award.

Sohn has also received the DLA Piper 's 2004 Pro Bono Senior Associate of the Year Award and its 2001 Pro Bono Junior Associate of the Year award.

"I like what I'm doing now. It's a great mix," Sohn told LawCrossing. "I have really interesting days, which will go from an SEC investigation to maybe a commercial breach of contract case or a fraud case, and then maybe I'll have constitutional issues later in the day."

In 2004, Sohn contributed more than 450 hours pro bono on three different cases. When asked how he manages to juggle that with his practice, he said DLA Piper has been very supportive of his pro bono work and that some days he doesn't start on those cases until 10 p.m.

"Josh is a smart, hardworking attorney dedicated to the highest ideals of the law," Elizabeth Dewey, DLA Piper's Pro Bono Partner, said in a statement. "His outlook is at once reasoned and compassionate. He shows us all how to make exceptional contributions to those in need while maintaining a solid private practice, and at the same time, he is a genuinely nice person."

Sohn said the pro bono cases have given him excellent trial experience since many of his corporate litigation cases settle or are dismissed before trial. That cross-examining experience will pay off in his private practice when his cases do go to trial.

"I've been able to get experience in the pro bono cases, which I'd never have gotten, which has made me all around a much better lawyer," he said.

Sohn won the CCR award for his work as co-counsel on a plaintiff case Gulino, et al. v. NYC Board of Education. It's a class-action case on behalf of Latino and African-American public school teachers in New York who allege that the Board of Education improperly uses two standardized tests for teacher certification known to have a disparate negative impact on minorities.

"In rough numbers, white test takers pass on 90-something percent of the time, and African-American and Latino test takers pass about 50-something percent of the time," Sohn said of the tests. "And despite this, what the city and state had done for a long time is they would allow these teachers to keep teaching—often with the same course loads in the same classrooms—and just pay them as substitutes and take away all their benefits."

Sohn and the CCR lost the case in district court. It is now in the 2nd Circuit on appeal.

Sohn has also been working on the case of Maher Arar, the dual Canadian/Syrian citizen who was detained at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and deported. Mr. Arar, an engineer with a family in Canada, was initially sent to Jordan and later handed over to Syria, where he was imprisoned and brutally tortured for almost a year before Syria sent him home to Canada.

"His name turned up on a watch list. He was detained at the airport and then Brooklyn for about two weeks" and interrogated, Sohn said. "His right to counsel, from our position, was interfered with."

The case is pending in the Eastern District of New York Federal Court. The various defendants have moved to dismiss, and CCR has voiced opposition.

While many associates say they have no time for pro bono work, Sohn said his firm encourages it. The trick, Sohn said, is to never neglect your private practice and only do pro bono cases you care passionately about.

"I started out as a corporate associate—which I did for six months—and it wasn't a perfect fit for me, so I switched to litigation," he said. "It played into my interests and my skills a lot better. You have to find things that you enjoy doing first of all. And you have to make sure that everything you do, you do to the best of your ability and you do things right—everything that you touch. But if you find things that you're interested in doing and you're passionate about, it's a lot easier all the way around. It gives you balance in your life, which allows you to do everything better."

It took that persistence to get involved with the CCR. Like many public interest organizations, CCR was swamped with work and did not initially accept Sohn's offer to volunteer. He kept calling and calling.

Sohn has a two-and-a-half-year-old son who was born just before he started the Gulino case. He and other attorneys involved in the case joked that his son might be in school before the case ends. But Sohn is hopeful it will end soon—and favorably.

Sohn, who graduated cum laude from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, in 1997 and was managing editor of the Cardozo Law Review, said he hopes to keep balancing his practice with new pro bono cases. It seems partner may be the next step in Sohn's career.

"We'll see," he said. "I hope that you're right."

Please see this article to find out if litigation is right for you: Why Most Attorneys Have No Business Being Litigators: Fifteen Reasons Why You Should Not Be a Litigator