Overview
(September 30, 2024, Washington, DC) — Underscoring the firm's ongoing commitment to pro bono, Steptoe LLP is pleased to announce that Carolyn Perez, former program counsel at the Legal Services Corporation, has joined the firm as pro bono counsel.
Carolyn has extensive experience providing legal services and supervising volunteer attorneys to ensure effective pro bono representation. As program counsel at the Legal Services Corporation, she conducted programmatic oversight of legal services providers and promoted improvement of the program’s ability to provide high-quality, effective, and efficient legal aid services. Carolyn previously worked as senior counsel for the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, where she assisted vulnerable unhoused clients with a wide variety of legal matters, including shelter, housing, public benefits, disability, street rights, and consumer issues. Prior to the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, Carolyn was a litigation associate and then counsel at a global law firm, serving on its pro bono committee and representing an extensive array of pro bono clients.
"Public service is at the heart of Steptoe's history, ethos, and operations," said pro bono partner, Paul Lee. "I am thrilled to welcome Carolyn to Steptoe as our new pro bono counsel. Her experience managing teams of attorneys in both the private and public sector, and providing legal services to those within our communities makes her a natural fit on the team, and I am excited about the work we will undertake together."
Carolyn added: "From the start of my legal career, I have been passionate about pro bono work and dedicated to aiding those in need. Joining Steptoe feels like a natural home for me, as the firm's unwavering commitment to pro bono efforts aligns perfectly with my personal and professional values."
Steptoe has a long and rich tradition of public service that is an integral part of the history, ethic, and operation of the firm. Over the past year, Steptoe was named the DC Bar Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year, joined with the League of Women Voters to fight voting rights restrictions in California, North Carolina and South Dakota, represented over 28 low-income tenants and families facing eviction and issues related to homelessness in our communities, won asylum for a Guatemalan woman and her two children following the death of her husband, who was a government whistleblower, advised the Justice Arts Coalition, a nonprofit dedicated to providing resources to the incarcerated, and represented more than 18 veterans in seeking combat-related special compensation, disability benefits, and military discharge upgrades.
About Steptoe
In more than 110 years of practice, Steptoe has earned an international reputation for vigorous representation of clients before governmental agencies, successful advocacy in litigation and arbitration, and creative and practical advice in structuring business transactions. Steptoe has more than 500 lawyers and other professional staff across offices in Beijing, Brussels, Chicago, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington. For more information, visit www.steptoe.com.
