SAN FRANCISCO – The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence presented Pillsbury with its annual 2018 Richard W. Odgers Pro Bono Partner Award at its 25th Anniversary Dinner on June 14. The award recognized Pillsbury’s litigation effort to compel the Department of Defense to improve reporting to the federal background checks system following the mass shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas.

Pillsbury partner Ken Taber, counsel Jeetander Dulani, senior associate Matthew Putorti, and associates Nick Buell and Adam Marcu have been working on this case since late 2017, and were on hand in San Francisco to receive the Odgers award. Team members Matt MacLean and Laura LoBue, both partners in the Pillsbury DC office, were unable to attend.

The award pays tribute to the late Pillsbury partner Richard Odgers. In 1993, following a mass shooting at law firm offices in San Francisco, he was among the leaders of the Bay Area legal community who helped establish the law center to craft laws to reduce gun violence and protect people from harm. Odgers served as the third president of the law center and was an active board member for 10 years. Following his death in 2014, the law center renamed its annual pro bono award for him, calling Odgers a “beloved founder, supporter and friend.” 

“We are deeply honored and humbled to receive this award named after our longtime partner and friend Dick Odgers,” said Pillsbury partner Ken Taber. “In Dick’s spirit, we continue to work long and hard alongside the Giffords Law Center to help prevent future gun tragedies, and we are especially invigorated to see renewed momentum across the country to fight for gun safety.”

In addition, the center honored former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her work to reduce gun violence, as well as student activists and gun violence survivors from Parkland, Florida, and Chicago.

Each year, the Giffords Law Center’s Anniversary Dinner honors the exceptional efforts of key individuals who have shown outstanding leadership in the gun violence prevention movement and pays tribute to the victims of the mass shooting at 101 California Street in San Francisco on July 1, 1993.