Graham Zorn Honored in 2024 Katahdin Counsel Recognition Program for Pro Bono Service

The Katahdin Counsel Recognition Program (the Program) named Principal Graham Zorn (Boston) as a 2024 honoree. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court created the Program in response to a proposal by the Justice Action Group to focus the public's attention on the critical role that pro bono publico plays in maintaining a vibrant civil justice system. To receive this honor, an attorney must have completed at least 50 hours of pro bono work in a year.

Graham has an active pro bono practice, representing the plaintiff in a lawsuit aimed to rectify the denial of legal rights to the Creek Freedmen and their descendants by the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and the U.S. Department of Interior. The descendants of Black Creek Freedmen (persons enslaved in the Muscogee Nation and freed after the Civil War) have been denied rightful citizenship in the Muscogee Nation based on their race. The lawsuit seeks to uphold the rights guaranteed by the Creek Treaty of 1866, aiming to restore the rightful place of the Creek Freedmen as citizens of the Muscogee Nation.

Pro Bono work is a top priority at B&D. Over half of all B&D attorneys, both principals and associates, participate in the firm’s pro bono efforts. The firm undertakes a variety of pro bono work, such as amicus briefs on racial justice and the rule of law, immigration and refugee support, landlord-tenant issues, and criminal clemency cases.