Young Conaway Presents 2010 Pro Bono Awards To Caesar and DiLiberto

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Wilmington, DE

Pro Bono Honors

In 2010, the attorneys of YCS&T once again invested over 6,300 hours in various pro bono projects. This is the fifth year in a row that the Firm logged over 6,000 hours. Our activities included work with DVLS, CLASI, the Office of the Child Advocate, the Federal Civil Rights Panel, the Veterans Appeals Program and others.

Each year, Young Conaway honors two attorneys who best exemplify the firm’s longstanding commitment to pro bono service. This year, Erika R. Caesar, Esquire and Richard A. DiLiberto, Jr., Esquire were recognized, during our recent annual attorney retreat, for their commitment to serve the neediest in our community.

William F. Taylor Award

Erika R. Caesar, Esquire is this year’s recipient of the William F. Taylor Award, given to an associate who provided exemplary pro bono legal service to the community and the Bar.

Ms. Caesar devoted almost 200 hours to pro bono matters in 2010. Along with other attorneys in the Firm, she has served as a coach with the Howard High School Mock Trial Team and participated in the Street Law Program. She has handled a variety of pro bono litigation matters with DVLS, the Office of Child Advocate and other referral sources. Ms. Caesar also worked with Melanie Sharp, Esquire on a civil rights discrimination which ultimately resulted in the offending officer’s departure from the police force.

In addition to her legal work, Ms. Caesar serves as a Trustee of the Delaware Multiple Sclerosis Society and is training for a half marathon to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

The Firm is pleased to present the Taylor Award to Erika R. Caesar, Esquire and will contribute $1,000.00 in her name to the Delaware Chapter of the National MS Society.

H. James Conaway, Jr. Award

The 2010 recipient of the H. James Conaway, Jr. Award for exemplary pro bono service to the community and Bar is Richard A. DiLiberto, Jr., Esquire.

Mr. DiLiberto has taken on some very unique pro bono representations this past year, but none more laudable than his representation of the young children of a father who was tragically killed as a pedestrian in downtown Wilmington by a hit-and-run driver, in a stolen car.

Mr. DiLiberto's other involvements include: being appointed by Governor Markell to the Magistrate Screening Committee; being re-appointed by Governor Markell as chairman of the Delaware Commission on Italian Heritage and Culture (originally appointed by Governor Minner); serving voluntarily as an Adjunct Professor at the Widener School of Law in their Intensive Trial Advocacy Program (which he has done for the last 20+ years); serving as one of 2 Delaware State Delegates to the American Association of Justice (formerly ATLA); and leading ethics seminars for the DSBA, St. Thomas More Society and the Delaware Bar Foundation.

In all, Mr. DiLiberto has devoted almost 300 hours in 2010 to pro bono projects. The Firm is please to honor him with the Jim Conaway Award and will donate $1,000.00 to MMI Preparatory School in Freeland, Pa. MMI is Mr. DiLiberto’s alma mater, and for 132 years the school has, against all odds, “done a miraculous job of giving students from the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania an outstanding college prep education.” Additional information about the school is available at the MMI Preparatory School website (www.mmiprep.org).