FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — The eastern Kentucky lawyer who mobilized a team of pro bono attorneys to bring a measure of justice to thousands in need was just honored by the American Bar Association.
Ned Pillersdorf recently received the Pro Bono Publico Award becoming Kentucky’s first attorney to be honored in this way.
“I obviously didn’t do all of these hearings and federal court appeals, maybe 15 to 20 percent,” he said. “Credit really belongs to this wonderful volunteer network who swarmed in,” he continued.
Mr. Pillersdorf spoke with LEX 18 before he was scheduled to make a presentation before the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts. Pillersdorf took on the challenge of helping thousands of in-need eastern Kentuckians in their fight to have Social Security benefits restored.
Those were lost when attorney Eric C. Conn swindled the Social Security Administration out of 600 million dollars, which impacted his clients in devastating fashion. Conn is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence in Ft. Dix for his role in the scheme.
“I don’t think there’s any question that Eric Conn did more to damage the legal profession than any lawyer in the history of this nation,” Pillersdorf said back in 2018, 14 months after Conn fled the country before being captured in Honduras.
Pillersdorf knew he couldn’t handle all of these hearings on his own, there were simply too many victims (more than 1,500 at the time). He solicited the help of lawyers who’d need to work on a pro bono basis given the claimants had no means of paying legal fees. As it was, they weren’t able to get by without their benefits.
“There’s been some really dark days during these eight years representing these people. We’ve had suicides and attempted suicides,” Pillersdorf said.
Pillersdorf said he and his team have won hundreds of cases thus far, but there’s more work to be done because the Social Security Administration is still challenging the validity of the claims, and/or whether or not these people are eligible for years of back pay.
Some of the victims even had their character questioned by those who believe they were part of the scheme. Essentially, it’s guilt by association of having been a client of Conn’s despite the fact that he was basically preying on the weak and those most in need.
“I’d trade this award for these cases to go away,” Pillersdorf said.
Mr. Pillersdorf won a class action lawsuit in December, which restored benefits to more than 600 people, but he noted that only about 300 of them know about the victory, so he’s trying to spread the word to them that it would be a very simple process for having their benefits restored.
Pillersdorf said he is honored to have received this award, but he prefers to share it with the many attorneys who lent a hand.
“What I hope, when the history is written of this, is they remember this unbelievable surge of voluntary lawyers who came in from all over the country,” he said.
