PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT
John Adams Courthouse
One Pemberton Square
Boston, Massachusetts 02108
CONTACT:
Jennifer Donahue/Erika Gully-Santiago
[email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 30, 2026
Supreme Judicial Court Standing Committee Presents 2026 Adams Pro Bono Publico Awards to Lawyers and Law Student
BOSTON, MA – At a ceremony in the John Adams Courthouse on Thursday, October 29, Supreme Judicial Court Associate Justice Elizabeth N. Dewar presented awards to lawyers and a law student, who were selected by the Supreme Judicial Court Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services in recognition of their exceptional dedication to providing volunteer services for persons who cannot afford an attorney.
The committee also recognized the achievements of attorneys, law students, and legal organizations who qualified for the Supreme Judicial Court Pro Bono Honor Roll and High Honor Roll.
At the beginning of the program, Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Kimberly S. Budd thanked the award recipients and honor roll participants for their service.
“To all of the Adams Award recipients and Pro Bono Honor Roll participants who are being recognized today, I want to say how much I, and all of us at the SJC, appreciate your pro bono service,” Chief Justice Budd said. “You vindicate the rights of people who might otherwise have no one to fight for them. And your example reminds us all of the ability that each of us has to make positive change.”
Ilana B. Gelfman, Esq., Chair of the Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services, delivered opening and closing remarks. Committee Member Rosalyn Nasdor, Esq. delivered remarks recognizing the legal organizations, individual attorneys and law students on the Supreme Judicial Court Pro Bono Honor Roll and High Honor Roll.
Justice Dewar presented the annual John Adams and John Quincy Adams Pro Bono Publico Awards to the following recipients for their outstanding pro bono work:
- Peter Ebb, a retired Ropes & Gray partner and Access to Justice Fellow, who devoted over 1,300 pro bono hours in the past year to supporting day-to-day operations, building and enhancing organizational infrastructure, and working to expand The Habeas Project – New England, which provides representation to detained immigrants in six states.
- Wyley Proctor, a partner at McCarter & English, for her extensive pro bono work representing domestic violence survivors in seeking restraining orders and in divorce and custody matters, and her efforts encouraging and training other attorneys to undertake these cases.
- Ronaldo Rauseo-Ricupero, counsel at Nixon Peabody, for his extraordinary record of pro bono service in a wide range of immigration matters throughout his career.
- The Devenscrest Tenant Association Pro Bono Team (Foley Hoag partner Jeffrey Mullan, associate Daniel Carlston, and former associate Cloe Pippin; Goulston & Storrs counsel David Abromowitz and associates Louise Giannakis and Taylor Dias; and solo practitioners Cornelius Sullivan and Gail Hupper) for collectively dedicating thousands of pro bono hours over 4½ years to permanently preserve over 100 affordable units in a rental development for hundreds of low- and moderate-income residents, including seniors and people with disabilities, after it was purchased by an investor.
- Bailey Cortright, a 2026 graduate of Suffolk University Law School, for providing hundreds of hours of law-related pro bono service in support of juvenile justice and child welfare during her law school career.
The SJC Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services works to promote volunteer legal service to assist people of limited means in need of representation, in accordance with Rule 6.1 of the Massachusetts Rules of Professional Conduct for attorneys. The awards ceremony coincides with the American Bar Association’s National Celebration of Pro Bono during the week of October 25-31, 2026, and is one of many activities supporting pro bono legal work in Massachusetts during the month of October, a month officially proclaimed Pro Bono Month by Governor Maura Healey.