Partners Caitlin Halligan and Sean Baldwin and associates Michael Duke, Babak Ghafarzade, and Katya Stynes received the Legal Aid Society’s 2022 Pro Bono Publico Award, which honors individuals each year for their exceptional work to ensure that no New Yorker is denied the right to equal justice.
Caitlin, Sean, Michael, Babak, and Katya were chosen for their outstanding commitment to defending the rent stabilization laws that protect hundreds of thousands of tenants in New York City and across the state. In 2020 and 2021, Selendy Gay, along with the Legal Aid Society and Legal Services New York, and lawyers for New York City and New York State, successfully obtained dismissal of five suits that threatened to strike down New York’s rent stabilization legislation.
These dismissals mean that critical protections for approximately one million households in New York City, including measures to close loopholes that allowed landlords to impose oppressive rent increases and evict tenants with short notice, remain in place. In 2022, Selendy Gay has been defending the dismissals on appeal. “I’m proud of the excellent work our associates have done on these cases,” said partner Caitlin Halligan, who heads the firm’s pro bono practice. “It’s especially meaningful to partner with Legal Aid on an issue that has such an immediate and significant impact on the community in which we all live and work.”
