All the Ways A Lawyer Helps

2019 John W. Cummiskey Award Recipient


Miller Canfield Attorney Kimberly Scott

Kimberly Scott, a litigator and principal in Miller Canfield’s Ann Arbor office, was selected as the 2019 recipient of the State Bar of Michigan’s John W. Cummiskey Award.  The award recognizes a Michigan attorney who has contributed a significant amount of time to pro bono services.

Beginning in June 2017, Kim and Miller Canfield’s pro bono team worked on the widely publicized class action case Hamama v. Adducci, all on a pro bono basis in partnership with the ACLU of Michigan. The Hamama case involved more than 1,400 individuals faced with the threat of deportation to a country where they would be persecuted, tortured, and likely killed. Kim and the legal team were successful in acquiring a preliminary injunction to halt the deportations.  The preliminary injunction gave the immigrants time to file individual hearings in immigration court so that each case could be evaluated, and the danger of deportation could be weighed along with the individual circumstances of each of the immigrants. The legal team also obtained a second preliminary injunction preventing the prolonged detention of the immigrants.

For more information on Kim’s pro bono projects, including the Hamama case, please visit Miller Canfield’s website or click HERE.  Kim has designated the stipend that accompanies this award to the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center.

John W. Cummiskey was an attorney who practiced in Grand Rapids, Michigan and was an advocate for increasing the availability of legal services to all socioeconomic groups. For more information on the Cummiskey Award and pro bono opportunities in your area, contact SBM Pro Bono Service & Justice Initiatives Counsel Robert Mathis at rmathis@michbar.org or (517) 346-6412.