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BigLaw Lawyers Help Holocaust Survivors

New York Lawyer
June 25, 2008

By Marisa McQuilken
Legal Times

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WASHINGTON - A few years ago, Latham & Watkins associate Mia Sussman watched her grandparents — both Holocaust survivors — apply for reparations from the German government. Both were turned down, and have since passed away.

So when Sussman had the chance to help Washington-area survivors apply for a new round of reparations, she jumped at it.

“It’s the closest that I’ve felt to my grandparents .?.?. it’s really powerful,” she says.

D.C. lawyers from Latham, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Howrey, Steptoe & Johnson, and DLA Piper are coordinating free clinics at the Rockville, Md., Jewish Social Service Agency to guide survivors through an eight-page application process. Sussman spearheads the effort for Latham.

The firms have already held three clinics this month, and two more are scheduled for July. Sussman says the firms will continue offering the clinics if there is enough demand.

Unlike previous compensation offered for slave labor in Nazi concentration camps, these reparations are meant to compensate for “voluntary” work performed in Nazi-controlled ghettos.

The German government announced this new program last October. It will allot about $3,000 to each survivor who is eligible.