Press Room

• NEW YORK – January 18, 2013 – ALM, a leading provider of news and business information to the legal industry, today named three law firms whose recovery from catastrophic Hurricane Sandy damage it will support as part of a community support initiative announced in November.

“The world seldom sees lawyers as heroes, let alone victims, but we’ve now seen dramatic examples of both, particularly in tight-knit beach communities that depend on local law firms in times of emergency,” said Bill Carter, president and chief executive officer of ALM. “We’re happy to be able to help at least a few of those hardest-hit in their recovery and to focus public attention on their vital social role.”

The firms receiving $2,500 cash stipends and comprehensive bundles of legal information products were chosen by a committee of ALM publishers, editors and business executives from its offices throughout the Northeast. The chosen firms are:

• Freedhand & Freedhand. Jay and Lorraine Freedhand’s husband-and-wife practice in Belle Harbor, NY, was totally destroyed by a fire in Sandy’s wake, destroying all of its assets, including 10 years of files. They have handled local real estate transactions and negligence litigation for 14 years.
• Law Office of John J. Howley. John Howley, a solo personal-injury practitioner who has practiced in Far Rockaway, NY for over 50 years, found his office was under eight feet of water, and was without power and heat until December. His home and car were also destroyed.
• Peknic, Peknic & Schaefer, LLC. This general practice firm of five lawyers based in Long Beach, NY, reopened within six weeks of the storm despite the loss of all of its furniture, equipment, library and other assets.

The ALM legal information products awarded to these firms include subscriptions to their regional legal newspaper, in all three of these cases New York Law Journal, and subscriptions to SmartLitigator, VerdictSearch, a selection of LJP digital publications, and continuing legal education services from CLECenter.com.

As part of ALM’s larger Sandy response initiative, a donation was made to the American Red Cross for regional relief efforts, and law firms received free replacements of Law Journal Press and other books damaged by the storm.

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