Legal News

Stanley Levy to direct L.A. non-profits' Holocaust reparations program

By Jason Siegel

Manatt Phelps senior attorney Stanley Levy will serve as the national director for Los Angeles non-profit's initiative to assist Holocaust survivors seeking reparations, pensions and other benefits from Germany and other European countries.

The non-profit, Bet Tzedek, created the first pro bono ?Ghetto Work? Reparations legal clinic in Los Angeles, after Germany began a new reparations program in October 2007. The program provides about $3,000 to each Holocaust survivor who worked while living in a German-controlled Ghetto, according to a Bet Tzedek press release. They estimate that there are about 20,000 people eligible in the United States.

They claim to have provided legal assistance to over 200 Los Angeles survivors in 10 weeks, aided by volunteer attorneys from law firms, corporate law departments and solo practitioners.

Levy, the co-founder of Bet Tzekek and an ordained Rabbi, will direct the non-profit nationwide expansion of the program as a volunteer, offering training and support to social service agencies and pro bono lawyers. Manatt has agreed to lead this pro bono effort in the eight locations where it has offices.

?[T]his Holocaust Ghetto Work Reparations Program is clearly one of the most important things I       have ever done, and I am very grateful to be able to do it," Levy said in a press release. "As Muhammad Ali once said, ?Service to others is the rent I pay for my place here on earth.??

Contact Bet Tzedek Legal Services or Stan Levy for more information about the Holocaust Ghetto Work Reparations Program or to join as a pro bono lawyer.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on March 21, 2008 (boomark / email).