Join us on September 29 for our annual event and support our work to ensure all Pennsylvania children have access to a high-quality public education.
In Pursuit of the Promise: Education for All
Tuesday, September 29, 2015, 6-8:30 p.m.
***Award program runs promptly from 6:30 – 7:00 p.m.***
Award Program Emceed by KYW Reporter Cherri Gregg
Fringe Arts, 140 N. Columbus Blvd. (at Race St.)
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Getting to Fringe Arts
Parking Information
Parking at the preferred lot costs $7. Use Park America Old City Parkominium (indoor garage, credit cards accepted, up to 24hr parking). Located at 231 N. 2nd St. (between Florist St. and New St.) Phone: 601-617-2100
Approximately a 7-minute walk from FringeArts. From front of garage turn left and head south on 2nd St. Turn left onto Race St., after passing under the Ben Franklin Bridge. Follow Race St. until it ends at Columbus Blvd. FringeArts will be on your right, on the corner.
Review additional parking options here: http://fringearts.com/contact/parking-info/
Take Uber!
We’re excited to announce we’ve partnered with Uber to offer all guests who are new to Uber a complimentary ride costing up to $20 using the promo code PUBINTLAW
Uber is an iPhone/Android app that lets you tag your location and summon a professional driver to your side within minutes. Use the iPhone or Android app, or visit http://m.uber.com to request a ride. You will receive a text when your car arrives. Once in the car, the driver will take you wherever you need to go. The fare is billed to your card, with no need to tip, so you don’t have to worry about handling cash. Just click the link below and sign up!
PROMO CODE: PUBINTLAW http://get.uber.com/go/PUBINTLAW
Public Transportation
Please check SEPTA for all schedules. Times may vary greatly.
Market-Frankford Line: stops at 2nd & Market St. Approximately a 10-minute walk to FringeArts.
Head North on 2nd St. towards Church St. Turn right at Race St. and walk towards the waterfront. FringeArts will be on your right at the corner of Race St. and Columbus Blvd.Connections to the Market-Frankford Line, take trains headed towards Frankford Transportation Center and exit at 2nd St. stop.
Buses:
#25 Frankford Transportation Center to Columbus Commons: Stops at corner of N. Columbus Blvd. and Race St. (directly across the street from our building) or S. Columbus Blvd. (between our building at the Holiday Inn). Approximately a 1-minute walk to FringeArts.
#21 Penn’s Landing to 69th Street Transportation Center, #33 Penn’s Landing to 23rd-Venango & #42 Penn’s Landing to Wycombe: Stops at Columbus Blvd. & Penn’s Landing. Approximately a 4-minute walk to FringeArts. Head North on Columbus Blvd. towards the Ben Franklin Bridge. FringeArts is located across the street at the corner of Race St. & Columbus Blvd.
#5 Front-Market to Frankford Transportation Center: Stops at 2nd St. & Race St. Approximately a 5-minute walk to FringeArts. Head down Race St. towards the waterfront until you reach Columbus Blvd. FringeArts will be on your right, on the corner.
#57 Whitman Plaza to Rising Sun-Olney or Fern Rock Transportation Center:Stops at 4th St. & Race St. Approximately a 6-minute walk to FringeArts. Head down Race St. towards the waterfront until you reach Columbus Blvd. FringeArts will be on your right, on the corner.
#48 Front-Market to 27th-Allegheny: Stops at 2nd St. & Arch St. Approximately a 7-minute walk to FringeArts. Head North on 2nd St. towards Race St. Turn right onto Race St. and continue until you reach the Columbus Blvd. We will be on your right, on the corner.
#17 Front-Market to 20th-Johnston and Broad-Pattison: Stops at 2nd St. & Market St. Approximately a 10-minute walk to FringeArts. First, take the pedestrian bridge at the end of Market St. When you reach the opposite end, head down the set of stairs on the left-hand side. From the stairs, turn right and walk up Columbus Blvd. towards the Ben Franklin Bridge. We are across the street at the corner of Race St. & Columbus Blvd.
PATCO: Stops at 8th St. & Market St. Approximately a 20-minute walk to FringeArts or change to the Market-Frankford Line to 2nd & Market St. stop for a 10-minute walk. Walk down Market St., take the pedestrian bridge, and head down the set of stairs on the left hand side when you reach the opposite end. From stairs, turn right and walk up Columbus Blvd. towards the Ben Franklin Bridge. We are across the street at the corner of Race St. & Columbus St.
Click here for the PATCO schedule.
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2015 Honorees
We will honor our clients in our school funding lawsuit and board member and renowned plaintiff’s attorney H. Laddie Montague of Berger & Montague, P.C.
Learn more about the Honorees
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H. Laddie Montague, Jr.
Mr. Montague is President, shareholder, and Chairman of the Antitrust Department of Berger & Montague, P.C. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Public Interest Law Center for more than 10 years and has been integral in helping the organization grow and stabilize. In times of great need, Mr. Montague provided financial support and proper judgment regarding case selection.
Mr. Montague is a renowned antitrust and class action attorney and a legend in Pennsylvania’s legal community. He has served as lead or co-counsel in many high-profile antitrust class actions, including In re Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Litigation, which culminated in a record-setting punitive damage award and earned him the “1995 Trial Lawyer of the Year” award. He shared the award with the entire trial team.
Over the years Mr. Montague and Berger & Montague, P.C. have been extremely generous with their time and resources. Notably, Mr. Montague supported our efforts to draft and establish a Community Right-to-Know ordinance which grants citizens access to information on pollution in their neighborhoods. Most recently the firm has filed an amicus brief in support of our litigation to uncover data that shows the reimbursement rates the state, insurance companies and health plans pay to dentists who treat children enrolled in Medicaid.
Mr. Montague is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He has been featured in Lawdragon 500; An International Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers; SuperLawyers; and, The Legal 500. Mr. Montague is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the Dickinson School of Law at Penn State University.
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School Funding Lawsuit Clients
Bringing a lawsuit against Pennsylvania state officials is no easy task. It requires stepping out and raising your voice against state government. That is why we are honoring the districts, parents and organizations that came forward to bring a lawsuit against Pennsylvania state officials for failing to adequately and equitably fund public schools.
Six school districts, seven parents, the Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools (PARSS) and the NAACP Pennsylvania State Conference are clients in this lawsuit. We are grateful for their dedication to Pennsylvania’s children. We are partnering with the Education Law Center-PA and O’Melveny & Myers LLP to represent them.
The six school districts represent the interests of children from across the state including those in rural, urban, and suburban areas. They include the William Penn School District, the Panther Valley School District, the School District of Lancaster, the Greater Johnstown School District, the Wilkes-Barre Area School District and the Shenandoah Valley School District.
Because the state fails to provide adequate funding, these districts, and other districts across the state, have difficulty offering a public education that ensures students can meet state standards. Many have had to cut staff, eliminate libraries, use outdated text books, stop tutoring programs, and limit other student services. The William Penn School District, for example, serves an estimated 42,100 students, approximately 78% of whom are considered economically disadvantaged. During the 2012-2013 school year standardized test results showed that 65% of students in the William Penn School District did not score proficient or above in Algebra I, 51% in Literature, and 88% in Biology.
The seven parent plaintiffs are filing on behalf of their children enrolled in one of these districts or the School District of Philadelphia. Sheila Armstrong of Philadelphia represents her 12-year-old son. He loves music and drawing. He attends Spring Garden School in the School District of Philadelphia, after his former school was closed by the district. The classrooms in his school’s 80-year-old building are too small to accommodate the 32 students in some classes. Students are not allowed to take their textbooks home, so Sheila has difficulty helping her son with much of his homework. The school recently lost noon-time aides, a student dean who handled discipline, a guidance counselor, and a community-relations liaison. There is no music teacher. The school can only afford to employ a half-time librarian and a half-time guidance counselor. A school nurse is available only one day a week, and Sheila’s son has asthma.
The NAACP and PARSS are filing on behalf of their members. PARSS members include approximately 150 small and rural public school districts and 13 Intermediate Units. PARSS promotes “equal opportunity for quality education for all students in every school and community in Pennsylvania.” Pennsylvania’s NAACP affiliate has approximately 10,000 members and has worked tirelessly to remove barriers to the participation of minority students on an equal basis. The organization’s education agenda declares, “our public schools are the only civil institution where our diverse population: persons of different races, creeds, and cultures, are assured to be brought together and to learn the commonness of our humanity.”
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Program
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Emcee: Cherri Gregg
Cherri Gregg is the community affairs reporter for KYW Newsradio 1060. Gregg joined KYW Newsradio as a staff reporter in December 2010. From the start, she focused on community and legal affairs, social justice, and grassroots issues of concern to residents of Philadelphia and the surrounding area.
Before KYW Newsradio, Gregg worked as a freelance multimedia journalist. She practiced law full time from 2002 until 2010 at top Am Law 100 law firms in Atlanta and Philadelphia.
Gregg holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Boston University, a Juris Doctor degree from Howard University School of Law, and a Master of Journalism degree (summa cum laude) from Temple University’s College of Communications and Theater, where she received the Louis Schiller Journalism Award in 2010 and the Meredith-Cronkite Fellowship in 2011.
Gregg is on the executive board of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists, and is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar and the Georgia Bar. In 2013 she was named among the NAACP’s most influential black women in the Philadelphia area.
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Thank you to our sponsors!
Presenting
Premiere
Sustainer
Cozen O’Connor
Dechert LLP
Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP
Reed Smith LLP
Richard Berkman and Toni Seidl
Benefactor
Alan Sandals and Alisa Field
Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC
Chimicles & Tikellis, LLP
Covington & Burling LLP
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
Ellen and Steven Friedell/Reaching Agreement ADR LLC
Ellen Meriwether/Cafferty Clobes Meriwether & Sprengel LLP
Ernst & Young/Kathleen Meriwether
Grant & Eisenhofer P.A.
Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller
Johnson & Johnson
Kline & Specter, P.C., David and Jodi Caputo
McCarter & English, LLP
Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP
Paul and Susan Saint-Antoine
Phil and Suzy Wilson
Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP
White & Williams LLP
Patron
Blank Rome LLP
Comcast NBC10 Telemundo62 Comcast Spectator
Console Law Offices, LLC
DLA Piper
Duffy + Partners
Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC
Jeffrey Golan and Frances Vilella-Velez
Karen Vaughn
Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, P.C.
Rust Consulting, Inc.
Sierra Club, Pennsylvania Chapter
Silverman Kendall, LLC
William and Anne Ewing
Supporter
Amy Ginensky and Andrew Rogoff
Anthony Gay
Carlos Montoya & Elizabeth McManus
Caroselli, Beachler, McTiernan & Coleman, L.L.C.
Donald and Harriet Joseph
Fox Rothschild LLP
Golkow Technologies
Harkins Cunningham LLP
Huntington National Bank
Joseph Trautwein & Associates, LLC
KDI, Inc.
Levin, Fishbein, Sedran & Berman
Littler Mendelson P.C.
Martin Law
Reliable
Robin R. Hauner/ACE USA
Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.
The Legal Intelligencer
Friend
Benjamin’s Desk LLC
Christie Sullivan & Young PC
Deborah Gross, Esq. and Stuart Kurtz, Esq.
Eric and Jill Green Rothschild
H. Robert Fiebach
Harris T. Bock, Esq.
Joan Duvall-Flynn, Ed.D.
Education Chair: PA NAACP
Judy Yun
LawSuit Funding Solutions, LLC
Nancy Gellman
Rayman Solomon
Saul Ewing LLP
Steve and Barbara Gold
Steve Harvey Law LLC
The Duckworth Group Merrill Lynch
Tim Hunter
Veritext
Event Host Committee
Ellen Meriwether—Co-Chair
Marc Topaz—Co-Chair
Richard Berkman and Toni Seidl
Abbi Cohen
Tom Chapin
Nick Chimicles
Dave Caputo
Ellen Friedell
Monique Myatt Galloway
Jeff Golan & Frances Vilella-Velez
Kevin Harden
Michael Hynes
Robin Mann
Noah Robbins
Michael Scott
Ray Soloman
Judy Yun
Tickets
Individual Tickets are $150 each. Click here to purchase your tickets.
Donate your tickets to a public school teacher! In celebration of the event’s theme, we have created the “Ticket for a Teacher” donation program. This program supports the Philadelphia Bar Association’s partnership with The School District of Philadelphia’s Support Our Schools Campaign. By purchasing a “Ticket for a Teacher” you will honor the important role Pennsylvania’s public school teachers play in providing a quality education for all and pay the way for a teacher to attend the event. Help us meet our goal of sponsoring 50 teachers!
RAFFLE (Do not need to be at event): Enter to win two nights at a two-level, 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom Victorian farmhouse in the beautiful Hudson Valley, NY! This beautiful farmhouse is located in Ghent, NY, just 20 minutes from nearby skiing.
Each raffle ticket purchased earns you one chance to win. The lucky winner will be chosen at the end of our event on September 29. You do NOT need to attend the event to participate. If you are not at the event, we will contact you via phone or email. Must be 18 or older to enter the raffle. Raffle tickets are non-deductible for tax purposes.
Sponsorship Opportunities
Contact: Barbara Grimaldi at 267-546-1304 or bgrimaldi@pubintlaw.org.
Click here to download the sponsorship opportunities form.
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Presenting Sponsor: $30,000+
- Co-host of exclusive pre-event sponsor reception (date and location TBD)
- Ten tickets to event
- Back-cover ad on program book (distributed to 350+)
- Presenting sponsor recognition and logo featured on invitation if received by August 3rd (Invitation sent to 1,900+)
- Presenting sponsor recognition on website event page with hyperlink to site (4,500+ web views/month)
- Presenting sponsor recognition and logo on pre-event e-blasts (3,200+ email subscribers)
- Presenting sponsor recognition on signage at the event
- Dedicated social media posts on Facebook (Likes: 800+) and Twitter (Followers: 700+)
- Opportunity to speak at the event
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Premiere Sponsor: $20,000+
- Six exclusive tickets to private, pre-event sponsor reception (date and location TBD)
- Eight tickets to event
- Inside cover, full-page ad in program book (distributed to 350+)
- Sponsor recognition and logo featured on invitation if pledge is received by August 3rd (Invitation sent to 1,900+)
- Sponsor recognition on website event page with hyperlink to site (4,500+ web views/month)
- Sponsor recognition and logo on pre-event e-blasts (3,200+ email subscribers)
- Premiere sponsor recognition on signage at the event
- Dedicated social media posts on Facebook (Likes: 800+) Twitter (Followers: 700+)
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Sustainer Sponsor: $10,000+
- Four exclusive tickets to private, pre-event sponsor reception (date and location TBD)
- Eight tickets to event
- Full-page ad in program book (distributed to 350+)
- Sponsor recognition and logo featured on invitation if pledge is received by August 3rd (Invitation sent to 1,900+)
- Sponsor recognition on website event page with hyperlink to site (4,500+ web views/month)
- Sponsor recognition and logo on pre-event e-blasts (3,200+ email subscribers)
- Sponsor recognition on signage at the event
- Dedicated social media posts on Facebook (Likes: 800+) Twitter (Followers: 700+)
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Benefactor Sponsor: $5,000+
- Invitation and two tickets to private, pre-event sponsor reception (date and location TBD)
- Six tickets to event
- Half-page ad in program book (distributed to 350+)
- Sponsor recognition and logo featured on invitation if pledge is received by August 3rd (Invitation sent to 1,900+)
- Sponsor recognition on website event page with hyperlink to site (4,500+ web views/month)
- Sponsor recognition and logo on pre-event e-blasts (3,200+ email subscribers)
- Sponsor recognition on signage at the event
- Dedicated social media posts on Facebook (Likes: 800+) Twitter (Followers: 700+)
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Patron Sponsor: $2,500+
- Four tickets to event
- Quarter-page ad in program book (distributed to 350+)
- Sponsor recognition and logo featured on invitation if pledge is received by August 3rd (Invitation sent to 1,900+)
- Sponsor recognition on website event page with hyperlink to site (4,500+ web views/month)
- Sponsor recognition and logo on pre-event e-blasts (3,200+ email subscribers)
- Sponsor recognition on signage at the event
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Supporter: $1,000+
- Two tickets to event
- Quarter-page ad in program book (distributed to 350+)
- Sponsor recognition on website event page with hyperlink to site (4,500+ web views/month)
- Sponsor recognition on signage at the event
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Friend: $500+
- Two tickets
- Sponsor recognition on website event page
- Sponsor recognition on signage at the event
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Program Book Ads
Full page (5.5″ x 8.5″) – $750
Half page (5.5″ x 4.25″) – $375
Quarter page (2.75″ x 4.25 “) – $200
Submit ads by emailing a “camera ready” ad (or unformatted text/photos) to mberton@pubintlaw.org. Electronic image requirements: jpg or pdf format, at least 300 dpi. All ads are due by September 11th.
