Sedgwick Recognizes Outstanding Community Efforts

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - Oct 17, 2012) - Sedgwick LLP announced the recipients of the firm's inaugural Community Service Award. Recognizing individuals and teams that demonstrated impressive community service or pro bono work from Sept. 2011 through Aug. 2012, the award is part of the Sedgwick Gives Back program. Honorees include: Michael Shaunessy and the Center for Child Protection in Austin; C. Kinnier Lastimosa and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago; and Robert Gilmartin and the St. John's Soup Kitchen in Newark N.J.

"The Community Service Award is a way to honor the members of our firm who support a variety of community and charitable organizations through the Sedgwick Gives Back program. On any given day, it is not unusual to find a team of Sedgwick attorneys and staff volunteering their time," said Firm Chair Michael Tanenbaum. "These opportunities to give our time and resources to the communities in which we live and work are rewarding to us individually and as an organization. Our volunteer efforts also provide the opportunity to reinforce internal working relationships and strengthen our close knit firm culture."

Nominations were received across a full array of social needs in areas including: autism/Asperger syndrome, asylum pro bono, at-risk youth, child advocacy and protection, education, food programs, gun laws, HIV/AIDS, legal clinics and multiple sclerosis. The honorees were chosen by a seven-member selection committee that included partners, associates and staff from throughout the firm.

For nearly a decade, Shaunessy, Austin office managing partner, has been a member of the board of directors for the Center for Child Protection, which provides help, hope and healing to severely abused and neglected children in Travis County. During that time, he has served as the Center's counsel and currently serves as the vice president of the board. Shaunessy has served on the board's executive committee for four years and the finance committee for three years, and chairs the organization's annual golf tournament fundraiser.

An associate in the Chicago office, Lastimosa and his wife, Jennifer Cheng, have raised more than $30,000 for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, which helps people living with HIV/AIDS and works nationally and internationally to advocate for rights, healthcare and research. In support of the Foundation, Lastimosa has completed 11 marathons and one half Ironman, totaling more than 300 miles.

Under the leadership of Gilmartin, special counsel, a team of staff and attorneys from the Newark office have volunteered at the St. John's Soup Kitchen since 2008. A short walk from the office, the volunteers once a month assist by preparing and serving hot lunches to Newark's less fortunate men, women and children. The office has also conducted more than a dozen collection drives for wounded service men and women and their families.

The international trial firm of Sedgwick LLP provides trial, appellate, litigation management, counseling, risk management and transactional legal services to the world's leading companies. With more than 370 attorneys in offices in Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, London, Los Angeles, New York, Newark, Orange County (California), Paris, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C., and an affiliated office in Bermuda, Sedgwick's collective experience spans the globe and virtually every industry. For more information about Sedgwick, its attorneys and services, visit www.sedgwicklaw.com.