New York, NY—The New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG) has awarded Dentons the 2014 Underwriter Award, presented in recognition of the firm's extraordinary commitment to pro bono work. The award recognizes Dentons' advocacy on behalf of elderly and disabled Medicaid recipients wrongly denied or delayed home health care services by the New York State Department of Health and its Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance. As the NYLAG board member who presented the award noted, "This case saved lives."

Led by New York Litigation partner Sandy Hauser, the Dentons team worked as co-counsel with NYLAG on the case, Shakhnes v. Eggleston. The case had been ongoing since the initial 2006 class action complaint was filed in the US District Court of the Southern District of New York against New York City and New York State in 2006. Since Dentons began working on the matter more than seven years ago, the firm has donated in excess of 4,000 hours of pro bono assistance. Moving forward, Sandy and the Dentons team will work with NYLAG to monitor compliance to the decision.

Sandy and Pro Bono partner Ben Weinberg accepted the award at NYLAG's annual gala, an event that celebrates the many ways in which the nonprofit is providing New York’s diverse immigrant communities with civil justice—from attaining legal immigration status, to accessing healthcare, to escaping domestic violence, and more. The gala brought together leaders of the New York legal community and also honored Matthew Biben, General Counsel of JPMorgan Chase’s Consumer and Community Banking, and Robert A. Katzmann, Chief Judge of the Second Circuit US Court of Appeals.

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