VIP in Action Published May 21, 2025
VIP’s 2025 Awards Night
Celebrating Our Top Volunteers
On May 15, our volunteers, friends, and donors—over 120 of you!—gathered in the Mayor’s Meeting Rooms in City Hall to applaud our outstanding pro bono advocates. We celebrated both newcomers to VIP’s mission and Hall of Famers with decades of service.
Thank you to all our sponsors, including our Presenting Sponsors: Morgan Lewis, TE Connectivity, Troutman Pepper Locke, and Bob and Didi Scott; our in-kind supporters and auction participants; all guests, volunteers, and donors; and especially our honorees for making Awards Night a special evening.
Visit the link below to join in supporting VIP’s mission.
Annual Award Honorees
Pro Bono Impact Award
Donna Brown, Esq.
Accenture
Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. Award: Solo Practitioner
Gregory S. Hyde, Esq.
Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. Award: Law Firm
Dechert LLP
Trailblazing Partner Award
Vanguard
Outstanding New Volunteer Award
Ryaan A. Ibtisam, Esq.
Cimphony
MVP of VIP Award
Lisa Ann Zolna
White & Williams LLP
Hall of Fame Inductees
Alfonso Madrid, Esq.
Volunteer since 1997
Billie Schnall, Esq.
Volunteer since 1993
Mark-Allen Taylor, Esq.
Volunteer since 2012
Friends and family celebrating our honorees
Hon. Ourania Papademetriou, VIP's former Managing Attorney, delivers remarks
Pro Bono Impact Award Honoree Donna Brown, Esq.
MVP of VIP Honoree Lisa Ann Zolna
Awards Night is our team's favorite night of the year...
...and a celebration of our community's shared mission of expanding access to justice
Brennan Award honoree Gregory S. Hyde, Esq. and family
Allison Beatty, Esq. of Vanguard's pro bono committee accepts the Trailblazing Partner Award
Outstanding New Volunteer Ryaan A. Ibtisam, Esq. and his VIP small business client
VIP Board Member Hope Freiwald, Esq. accepts Dechert's Brennan Award
Cheers to all our volunteers and supporters!
Reunions of VIP volunteers, partners, and staff, old and new
Presenting Sponsors
Diamond Sponsors
Platinum Sponsors
Blank Rome LLP
Greenberg Traurig LLP
McCarter & English, LLP
Gold Sponsors
Comcast
Dilworth Paxson LLP
Feldman Shepherd Wohlgelernter Tanner Weinstock Dodig LLP
Toll Brothers
White and Williams LLP
Silver Sponsors
GSK
Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky P.C.