On May 11, The Legal Aid Society honored Sara E. Moss, executive vice president and general counsel of The Estée Lauder Companies, and Marc Wolinsky, litigation partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, with the Servant of Justice Award at its 40th Annual Awards Dinner, held at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City.
 
Moss and Wolinsky, leading advocates for the provision of civil legal services to low-income New Yorkers, received the award for their support of The Legal Aid Society and its clients, and for their outstanding dedication to the quest for equal justice.
 
Moss’s passion for the law, higher education and community engagement reaches far beyond her position at The Estée Lauder Companies. She is vice chair of the Board of Directors of The Legal Aid Society and serves on other distinguished boards including New York University Law School, the New York Common Pantry, the M•A•C AIDS Fund and The Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation.  She has testified about the urgent need for civil legal services for New York’s poor before the Chief Judge’s Commission on Legal Services.
 
She has been with The Estée Lauder Companies in roles of increasing responsibility for more than 13 years.  She began her career as a clerk for the Honorable Constance Baker Motley, U.S. District Judge in the Southern District of New York and then became a litigator at Davis Polk & Wardwell.  She went on to serve as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District where she prosecuted a wide range of federal cases.  Moving back to the private sector, Moss was a senior litigation partner at Howard, Smith & Levin (now Covington & Burling) and then Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Pitney Bowes Inc.
 
Wolinsky has served on The Legal Aid Society’s Board of Directors. As part of his pro bono work, he represented Joseph Steffan in his challenge to the ban on the service of gay men and women in the military, arguing the case to the D.C. Circuit sitting en banc.  He successfully reversed the manslaughter conviction of Anthony Oddone in the New York Court of Appeals and submitted an amicus brief on behalf of a death row inmate on an appeal from a conviction that was reversed by the Louisiana Supreme Court reversal.   
 
He joined Wachtell Lipton after clerking for the Honorable Henry J. Friendly of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1980-1981. His practice includes corporate governance, contracts, antitrust, insurance and securities litigation and has served as the Firm’s pro bono coordinator for over a decade. He  has argued appeals in the D.C. Circuit, the New York Court of Appeals and the Appellate Divisions of the New York State Supreme Court and has litigated in state, federal and bankruptcy courts around the country. 
 
Proceeds from this event will benefit the Society’s Civil Practice, which represents approximately 128,000 vulnerable New Yorkers including senior citizens, children and adults with disabilities, survivors of domestic violence, immigrants, low-wage workers, persons living with HIV/AIDS, and homeless and imminently homeless children and adults. The awards dinner proceeds are crucial to enable the Society’s front-line staff in all five boroughs to provide essential civil legal services in the midst of these challenging times for the vulnerable low-income families and individuals we represent.