A Celebration of Public Service

About the Program

The Public Service Awards Ceremony will recognize graduating students, alumni, and faculty members who have made considerable public service contributions.

The ceremony will include a speech by our keynote speaker and recipient of our Distinguished Commitment to Public Service Award, whistleblower attorney Mark Zaid.

Mr. Zaid is Executive Director of the James Madison Project, which works to educate the public on issues relating to intelligence gathering and operations, secrecy policies, national security and government wrongdoing, and cofounder of Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit law firm that provides pro bono representation to whistleblowers, particularly in the area of national security. Mr. Zaid represents former/current federal employees, particularly intelligence and military officers, defense contractors, whistleblowers and others who have grievances, have been wronged or are being investigated by agencies of the U.S. government or foreign governments, as well as members of the media. Recently, Mr. Zaid was a member of the legal team representing the whistleblower whose complaint against President Donald Trump led to the launch of the first impeachment inquiry against the president. As the National Law Journal once wrote, “If Agent Mulder ever needed a lawyer, Zaid would be his man”.

Awardees

Members of the Class of 2021

Alumni Award for Excellence in Public Service:

Hon. Juliet P. Howard, Civil Court of the City of New York, Housing Part

Hon. Juliet P. Howard ’91 is a recently appointed Judge, sitting in the New York City Housing Court in Kings County. She and her wife, Judge Norma Jennings, appointed to the bench in 2019, are part of a historic moment and believed to be the first married same-sex couple appointed to the same court in New York. Judge Howard has dedicated her legal career to public interest law and serving the public, including serving as an Adjunct Clinical Instructor at Brooklyn Law School’s former Elder Law Clinic, a Staff Attorney at The Legal Aid Society, Civil Division, and a court attorney in New York City Civil Court. Creatively, she is an author, widely anthologized poet and Curator of Women Writers in Bloom Poetry Salon.

Faculty Award for Excellence in Public Service:

Sidney Cherubin, Director of Legal Services, Brooklyn Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project and Adjunct Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School

Sidney Cherubin supervises the Family Law, Bankruptcy, Guardianship, Matrimonial, Foreclosure and Consumer Debt practice at the Brooklyn Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project. Mr. Cherubin oversees and supervises the Kings County Civil Court CLARO and Volunteer Lawyers for the Day Projects and teaches the NY Civil Consumer Law Clinic at Brooklyn Law.

Please RSVP by March 29.

*Graduating Brooklyn Law students eligible for an award will be notified by the end of March. If you have any questions regarding eligibility of hours to submit hours, please email publicservice@brooklaw.edu*