Pond Lehocky Managing Partner Sam Pond will be recognized as an award recipient at the 2020 Peggy Browning Awards. The award recognizes the commitment to the rights of workers and their families.
The awards reception will be held Wednesday, March 4, from 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. at Penn’s Landing Caterers. Also being recognized are Philadelphia Council AFL- CIO President Patrick Eiding and arbitrator Ralph Colflesh. To learn more about the reception, visit https://www.peggybrowningfund.org/events/event/149/Philadelphia-Awards-Reception.
The award is presented by the Peggy Browning Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization that educates and inspires the next generation of advocates for workplace justice through fellowships, workers’ rights conferences, regional workshops, networking and other programs. The fund was established in 1997 in memory of Margaret A. Browning, a prominent labor attorney and the first union lawyer appointed a member of the National Labor Relations Board.
In 2019, the Peggy Browning Fund awarded 87 law students with 10-week summer fellowships working for unions, worker centers, non-profit organizations and union-side law firms advocating for the rights of workers and their families. Of the graduated alumni, 68 percent are working in workers’ rights labor law or public interest law.
Pond Lehocky is especially proud of this award because the firm is a fierce advocate for labor. For the firm, it’s personal. Many of the firm’s attorneys and staff members come from union backgrounds.
This is particularly true of Pond. His father worked as a union machinist for 35 years at the Philadelphia Gas Works and his mother worked in a factory in North Philadelphia. In addition, before becoming an attorney, Pond worked at several union jobs. His upbringing and background instilled in him the importance of collective bargaining for decent wages and safe working conditions.
And his commitment to workers continues to be a driving force in his life. In addition to managing the largest workers’ compensation firm in Pennsylvania, he is also president of Union Services Access, a legal consulting services network for unions and their members.
Pond Lehocky was also recently honored for its commitment to unions by pro-labor media platform and service provider PhillyLabor. The firm was named the Who’s Who in Injury and Injured Workers Advocacy Program Firm of the Year, recognizing the firm for its “exemplary representation of injured workers and disabled citizens” from across the Philadelphia area.