Akerman Honored for Transformative Support in Shelter Renovation

Tushna Gamadia

At this year’s Above & Beyond Awards, Sanctuary for Families is pleased to honor Steven Polivy of Akerman LLP for his dedicated work in securing bond financing to renovate Sarah Burke House (SBH) – Sanctuary’s transitional shelter for survivors of domestic violence and their families.

At this year’s Above & Beyond Awards, Sanctuary for Families is pleased to honor Steven Polivy, Chair of the Economic Development and Incentives Practice at Akerman LLP, for his dedicated and compassionate work in securing bond financing to renovate Sarah Burke House (SBH) – Sanctuary’s transitional shelter for survivors of domestic violence and their families. His efforts will help hundreds of survivors rebuild their lives in safety, healing, and hope.

Sarah Burke House is New York’s first and largest transitional shelter for survivors of domestic violence and their families. Sanctuary’s shelter team works closely with families who enter SBH after leaving a domestic violence crisis shelter to help them find affordable housing, meet their legal and mental health needs, and plan for the future. The shelter is in a building that is over 100 years old and in need of critical renovations so that it can continue to provide shelter and security to survivor families. Sanctuary needed legal counsel to help us secure the financing necessary to begin renovations, which is where Steven stepped in to assist.

Steven Polivy is a partner in Akerman’s real estate group and the chair of Akerman’s Economic Development and Incentives Practice, with over four decades of experience working on municipal bond financing and with nonprofits and charitable organizations in connection with their financing needs. Steven worked closely with Svati Kania, Sanctuary’s General Counsel, Lisa Radcliffe, Sanctuary’s Chief Financial and Operating Officer, the Hon. Judy Harris Kluger, Sanctuary’s Chief Executive Officer, and Sanctuary’s Board of Directors to obtain tax-exempt financing through Build NYC Resource Corporation, a New York City agency, to secure the funds to renovate SBH, with the assistance of the dedicated teams from the bond firm, D.A. Davidson and the bankers at Webster Bank that made the financing possible. This was a complex financing since it required coordination with multiple public and private parties and a large number of documents, obtaining the New York Attorney General’s approval, and the use of an innovative structure to maintain the confidential location of SBH in the transaction documents for the safety of its residents.

Steven seamlessly guided Sanctuary to a successful bond financing using his vast knowledge and experience reviewing and negotiating transaction documents, providing strategic advice, and managing relationships with the lender, New York City agencies and New York State Attorney General’s office. The transaction started in 2024 and closed in July 2025. The structure of the deal changed completely during the course of the transaction. Through it all, Steven remained committed to the project, devoting countless hours, including over weekends, to reviewing and negotiating the documents, answering questions for the Sanctuary team, and attending Board meetings, often with very little advance notice. As Svati noted, had Steven charged Sanctuary for his services, his fees would have amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Yet Steven consistently prioritized Sanctuary even though he was dedicating his time at no cost.

In turn, Steven was impressed by how willing the various participants in the transaction, including the Attorney General’s office, the City of New York, and the lender were to accommodate Sanctuary’s needs and help facilitate the transaction within the parameters of the applicable legal requirements in order to continue Sanctuary’s services on behalf of its clients. Inspired by Sanctuary’s work, Steven intends to continue to be involved with this project and other pro bono work with Sanctuary.

Steven has been the picture of calm and confident competence, kindness, and grace throughout this challenging transaction. The renovation of SBH would not be possible without Steven’s steady guidance and collaboration with Sanctuary’s leadership and Board.

We thank Steven and are pleased to honor him for his dedication and generosity in assisting Sanctuary accomplish a goal that is central to the services it provides to our community. As Svati noted, “Steven’s work is geared not to help just one single survivor, but instead, it helps hundreds of survivors and family members find safety and healing. Without his help, Sanctuary for Families could not have continued to provide a safe haven for clients who call Sarah Burke House their home, and those who will do so in the coming years.”

Join us at our Above & Beyond Awards Ceremony on October 21, 2025, as we honor Akerman’s outstanding pro bono work.

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If your firm is interested in a sponsorship opportunity, please reach out to Geny Kimbrell, Director of Special Events, by email at gkimbrell@sffny.org.

Tushna Gamadia is a partner in the Real Estate Group at Morrison & Foerster LLP, works with Sanctuary clients on pro bono cases, and is a member of Sanctuary’s Pro Bono Council.

WilmerHale Team Secures Parole for Incarcerated Survivors

Tushna Gamadia

At this year’s Above & Beyond Awards, Sanctuary is honoring a team from WilmerHale for their tireless, inspired, and compassionate work helping Sanctuary for Family’s incarcerated clients obtain parole and live a new life full of hope for the future.

At this year’s Above & Beyond Awards, Sanctuary for Families is thrilled to honor Susan Schroeder, Kyrie Graziosi, and Meghan Wingert of WilmerHale LLP for their tireless, inspired, and compassionate work helping Sanctuary for Family’s incarcerated clients obtain parole and live a new life full of hope for the future.

The WilmerHale team first represented one of Sanctuary for Families’ incarcerated clients in connection with her successful parole hearing in March 2023. After that inspiring experience, they went on to help two other Sanctuary clients obtain parole in October 2023 and April 2024. Though each client’s situation was unique, all are survivors of severe gender-based violence. Their parole hearings were the first step toward a new future for each client.

Susan, Kyrie, and Meghan worked closely under the guidance and mentorship of Ross Kramer, Isabelle Demenge, and Kayla Abrams of Sanctuary to prepare each client. Since counsel cannot be present at the parole hearing, the goal of the team was to help each client become an effective self-advocate before the parole board. Isabelle noted that the WilmerHale team was patient, honest, and friendly with the clients from the outset, and quickly formed a relationship of trust with each of their clients. The clients in turn were open and engaged with the process since they trusted their legal team, which enabled Susan, Kyrie, and Meghan to really delve into the facts and circumstances of the underlying crimes, the work that each woman had done on herself during her incarceration, and their attempts to help others despite personal challenges.

Once the WilmerHale team got to know each client, the team worked collaboratively with them to prepare an individualized parole packet for submission to the parole commissioners. A parole packet typically includes things like advocacy letters; a personal statement from the client; apology letters to the victims; support letters from the client’s friends, family, and community; and evidence of the client’s accomplishments during incarceration.  In one client’s case, for example, the team spoke at length with the client’s sponsor and friends from the AA community to ensure that the client’s continuing recovery and sobriety would be addressed after her release. The team spoke to over twenty individuals to ensure that just the right letters were included in the client’s packet.

Susan, Kyrie, and Meghan also worked tirelessly to help each client prepare for the rigors of the hearing by holding in-person mock hearings and helping the client think about and craft the best possible answers to the questions she could be asked at the hearing. The WilmerHale team was in constant contact with their clients, speaking to each at least once every week in the months leading up to the parole hearings. Kyrie noted that this close client contact was one of the most rewarding aspects of the case.

The WilmerHale team went “above and beyond” in every sense. The team felt a tremendous sense of responsibility towards their clients, who have survived severe violence, abuse, and trauma. The team understood they were entrusted with helping these women gain their freedom. Parole is granted in New York state in less than 28% of all cases that go before a parole board. Sanctuary for Families and their pro bono attorneys have had a remarkable 94% success rate (one case has an appeal pending), including the WilmerHale team’s 100% success rate.

Each of the cases the WilmerHale team worked on had their own unique challenges. For example, one of the clients had already been denied parole twice; another client’s sentence was considered to be too short to typically be granted parole. Most important, however, the team focused on helping each client build her self-confidence and giving her hope for a better future by believing in the client. Susan, Kyrie, and Meghan formed a strong bond with each client, and because of their unwavering belief in her, each client began to internalize their message: that she was not defined by her crime, that she could use her experience to help others, that she was intelligent, strong, resilient and capable, and that together they could succeed in winning her freedom. Even more critical, they impressed on each client that she deserved the chance to start her life again and could live a full, happy and meaningful life going forward.

Through their trauma-informed, compassionate, and skillful work, the team made a tremendous impact in each client’s life that will echo far into her future and that of her community.  The WilmerHale legal team, in turn, feels that as a result of their work with these clients, they have gained new insight and a fresh perspective on keeping an open mind and listening closely to a client which have made them better lawyers and people. They encourage other pro bono lawyers to take on cases like these even if it is outside of the scope of their day-to-day work, as it is such a rewarding experience.

A key aspect of Sanctuary’s parole assistance program is that it does not end once the client is released. Re-entry after release is challenging and therefore Sanctuary continues to provide services, such as counseling, guiding clients to apply for the benefits they are entitled to, and participating in Sanctuary’s Economic Empowerment Program, which provides job training for clients to gain employment and succeed in the workplace. The WilmerHale team and the Sanctuary team keep in close contact with their clients after release. With the love of their family and friends, Sanctuary’s support services, and the caring work of their legal teams, each of the clients is now thriving and looking forward to a future full of dignity, happiness, and the opportunity to give back to her community. One of the clients has settled at home, and has opened her own barbershop in Rochester. Another client is completing a paralegal certification and plans to attend law school and give back to others as a lawyer. WilmerHale’s third client was only recently released, and is enjoying time with her family and has already secured employment.

We thank Susan, Kyrie and Meghan and are pleased to honor them for their dedication and generosity in volunteering their time and talents to such tireless, empowering and trauma-informed representation of Sanctuary’s clients.

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Join us at our Above & Beyond Awards Ceremony on October 8, 2024, as we honor WilmerHale’s outstanding pro bono work.

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Tushna Gamadia is a partner in the Real Estate Group at Morrison & Foerster LLP, works with Sanctuary for Families’ clients on pro bono cases, and is a member of Sanctuary for Families’ Pro Bono Council.

Steptoe & Johnson Honored for Advocacy in Retaliatory Defamation Case

Tushna Gamadia

At this year’s Above & Beyond Awards, Sanctuary will honor Joseph Sanderson of Steptoe & Johnson LLP for his tireless, inspired, and compassionate advocacy on behalf of Sanctuary’s client.

Sanctuary for Families is pleased to honor accomplished trial lawyer Joseph Sanderson of Steptoe & Johnson LLP with an Above & Beyond Award for his tireless, inspired, and compassionate advocacy on behalf of Sanctuary’s client in a retaliatory defamation case.

Joseph is a well-known and accomplished litigator who has generously shared his expertise and experience to help Sanctuary’s client achieve a just outcome in a retaliatory defamation lawsuit. As Sanctuary’s client explained in her affidavit, her ex-husband—an NYPD officer—had physically and sexually abused her during their marriage. She later reported the abuse to the NYPD in an attempt to protect herself and stop the abuse. Later, as he faced contempt proceedings in their divorce case, the abuser filed a defamation lawsuit against her based on this report to the NYPD.

Sadly, defamation lawsuits against survivors who speak out about their abuse have been increasing. They are now another tool enabling abusers to harass, intimidate, and punish the victims of their violence. In addition to trying to silence survivors, these retaliatory lawsuits are often used to try to coerce survivors into dropping relief to which they are entitled in matrimonial or custody proceedings or not cooperating with criminal or other investigations. Pro bono attorneys like Joseph are critical in the effort to counteract this dangerous trend.

Sanctuary attorneys who specialize in family law had been representing the client in her divorce matter when the defamation lawsuit was filed against her. Sanctuary attorneys do not regularly litigate tort cases and have limited bandwidth to handle this type of collateral civil litigation. Fortunately for our client, Joseph has built up significant experience and expertise from volunteering to represent other pro bono clients who have been subjected to malicious defamation claims by their abusers as a means of harassment, retaliation and intimidation. Joseph’s sense of justice and fairness has led him to reach out to survivors who have courageously stepped forward to file complaints to stop their abuse or bring their abuser to justice, only to have their abuser misuse defamation law as a means to silence or intimidate them. Through a combination of skillful strategy, insightful knowledge of the complex workings of the court system, and desire to make sure that the legal system did not fail Sanctuary’s client, Joseph was able to obtain a voluntary Stipulation of Discontinuance of the case. Joseph employed a mix of patience, endurance and diligence in obtaining the best possible outcome.

Joseph started working on the case in June 2021 when he was at his former firm, Kirkland & Ellis, and took the case with him when he moved firms to Steptoe so our client would have continuous and consistent representation. After Joseph’s strategic motion practice—which required opposing counsel to spend significant time and money pursuing a case in which they may have expected the client would quickly fold—opposing counsel eventually agreed to drop the case altogether in a courtroom hallway while waiting for a motion to be heard. During the course of the several years long litigation, Joseph was dogged in his representation of the client, including by filing multiple applications with the Court, including a request to seal documents and sanction the other side in order to protect confidential client information that was disclosed in her ex-husband’s filings, which itself created pressure to discontinue the case.

Hannah West, the dedicated Sanctuary for Families lawyer handling the client’s divorce nominated Joseph for this Award, saying,

“I was impressed and grateful for Joseph’s ability to manage the case and all communications with the client so independently and skillfully. Most importantly, Joseph was collaborative with our client by being in constant communication with her and explaining in detail his case strategy, while listening to our client’s concerns and being responsive to her questions and guided by her needs.”

In addition to his pro bono work on behalf of survivors of abuse and violence, Joseph also advocates for reforms in the court system as a member of bar association committees. It is a testament to his skilled management of this sensitive case and thorough understanding of the workings of the legal system that Joseph was able to use the delays and pace of the court system to achieve such a positive outcome for our client. Had Joseph not been able to obtain the discontinuance of the case, our client may have lost her faith in the justice system that was punishing her for bravely coming forward to stop her abuse, and her ability to testify in the family law proceedings would also be impaired, jeopardizing her receiving a fair and favorable outcome.

Thanks to her courage and resilience, our client is moving forward with her life and thriving in her new profession. She recognizes that Joseph’s compassionate and empowering representation has helped her achieve her goals for her future, so when asked if she wanted to say anything in relation to Joseph’s Above & Beyond Award, Ms. S said she would do “anything for Mr. Sanderson” because of his ability to resolve the matter so smoothly and compassionately. Meanwhile, Joseph continues to share his trial advocacy talents to empower survivors by taking on other similar pro bono matters. We thank Joseph and are pleased to honor him for his dedication and generosity in volunteering his time and talents to such tireless, empowering and trauma-informed representation of Sanctuary for Families clients and other brave survivors of abuse and gender based violence.

Join us at our Above & Beyond Awards Ceremony on October 25, 2023, as we honor Steptoe & Johnson’s outstanding pro bono work.

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Tushna Gamadia is an of counsel in the Real Estate Group at Morrison & Foerster LLP, works with Sanctuary for Families’ clients on pro bono cases and is a member of Sanctuary for Families Pro Bono Council.

Schulte Roth & Zabel Assists Survivors in Critical Real Estate Matters

Tushna Gamadia

At this year’s Above & Beyond, Sanctuary will honor Gregory Pressman of Schulte Roth & Zabel for his invaluable assistance in multiple cases involving real estate matters.

At this year’s Above & Beyond Awards, Sanctuary for Families is pleased to honor its go-to real estate counsel, Gregory Pressman of Schulte Roth & Zabel, LLP, with an Above & Beyond Award for his invaluable assistance to Sanctuary’s clients in multiple cases involving real estate matters.

Greg Pressman is a well-known and extremely accomplished real estate lawyer who has generously shared his expertise and decades of experience to help Sanctuary’s clients navigate complex and critical real estate matters that arise as part of the client’s domestic violence or matrimonial cases. In the cases that Greg has worked on, abusers often attempt to use ownership and financing of real estate, including the family’s home, as a means of control and intimidation against Sanctuary’s clients. The Sanctuary team, with Greg’s help, has worked on several cases where the team has been able to educate clients as to their rights with respect to real estate matters, work with clients to come up with innovative strategies in unusual and particularly complex cases, and help clients fight for their rights with respect to their homes and real estate assets (which are often used by abusers to jeopardize a client’s sense of security, sense of stability, and financial independence). For example, Greg was instrumental in helping a client and her children recover their rightful share of the proceeds of the sale of the family home through an escrow arrangement in a case where her husband had left the country and married again without the client’s knowledge.

Greg is both a trusted advisor and a critical member of several litigation teams where real estate matters are central to the outcome of cases. Greg’s thorough understanding of real estate law, real estate ownership and financing documents, and negotiation strategies has been invaluable to clients. In a case where the client’s abuser is using the foreclosure of the family home and associated debt to exert coercive control over the client, Greg has offered invaluable insight into the complex foreclosure matters, employed strategic negotiations, and worked on innovative settlement solutions to obtain the best outcome for our client.

Greg is always willing to assist the Sanctuary lawyers in any way they need him to, from reviewing mortgage documents, answering questions about sales of client’s homes and real estate foreclosure issues to leading negotiations and coming up with novel and creative litigation strategies that involve thinking out of box. Greg is very responsive and has spent countless hours advising clients, the Sanctuary lawyers and other pro bono counsel in spite of his busy schedule. He will even call the Sanctuary team on weekends to answer questions. He always goes above and beyond in his representation of Sanctuary’s clients, such as visiting the client’s property to better understand why the house is in foreclosure and assess its potential value better and personally contacting and staying in touch with a referee appointed to oversee the foreclosure of a house so as to keep the client updated and informed in order to obtain the best possible outcome in a difficult situation.

While Greg’s dedication in generously volunteering his time and skills in real estate matters has made him an invaluable resource to Sanctuary, what really stands out is that Greg treats every client with respect, dignity, and compassion as he empowers clients with respect to their rights. Greg also has a great appreciation for the dedication, skills, and stress level that Sanctuary’s lawyers work under and therefore wants to share his time and knowledge with them and be a part of the team. Greg’s involvement with Sanctuary started many years ago when he successfully advised Sanctuary on a critical mortgage matter involving Sanctuary’s Sarah Burke House shelter, which led to Sanctuary inviting Greg to join the Sanctuary Board in 2007. Greg served on Sanctuary’s Board from 2007 to 2016 and during his board tenure worked closely with Sanctuary on real estate matters involving Sanctuary’s office space. In the past few years, Greg has become involved with direct client pro bono work (even connecting clients to Sanctuary), which he has done with great energy and dedication for the last several years. Sanctuary is pleased to honor Greg for his countless contributions towards helping and empowering Sanctuary’s clients.

Join us at our Above & Beyond Awards Ceremony on November 2, 2022, as we honor Greg Pressman’s outstanding pro bono work.

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If you can’t join us, but would like to support Sanctuary’s work, please consider making an Above & Beyond donation here.

Tushna Gamadia is an of counsel in the Real Estate Group at Morrison & Foerster LLP, works with Sanctuary for Families’ clients on pro bono cases and is a member of Sanctuary for Families Pro Bono Council.