Schnader Attorneys Win Pro Bono Award

In recognition of their commitment to pro bono service, Schnader attorneys Samuel W. Silver and Rebecca Lacher were awarded the 2014 First Judicial District Pro Bono Publico Award at a reception on October 23, 2014. This award honors attorneys who provide exemplary pro bono services in the Philadelphia courts, ensuring justice for the citizens of Philadelphia. Mr. Silver and Ms. Lacher received the award for their role in securing a vacated conviction and new trial on behalf of pro bono client Anthony Wright, who, despite proclaiming his innocence, was convicted in 1993 of the rape and murder of a North Philadelphia woman. Mr. Wright is also represented by the Innocence Project, a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people and reforming the criminal justice system. Following the Innocence Project’s long legal battle to test DNA collected at the time of the crime including a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling in Mr. Wright’s favor, the DNA results excluded Mr. Wright as a contributor to seminal fluid and identified another man as the source. 

Mr. Silver has been dedicated to pro bono service throughout his career, serving on the firm’s Pro Bono Committee and handling several capital cases.  He is a past recipient of the Earl G. Harrison Pro Bono Award, the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Pro Bono Award, and The Legal Intelligencer’s Unsung Heroes of Pro Bono Award. Ms. Lacher also devotes a significant amount of her time to pro bono matters, focusing on prisoner civil rights and civil liberties, including defense of the City of Philadelphia’s ban on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in a challenge by the local Boy Scouts chapter.