Media Contact: Michael Sadowski, Communications Coordinator
msadowski@barley.com or 717-208-8842
For Immediate Release and Planning Purposes
York, Pa. – Barley Snyder managing partner Jeff Lobach will be the featured speaker at the “Golden Venture Saga,” a look back at the history of the seminal case involving nearly 300 Chinese refugees, a large group of whom were detained in the York County Prison after trying to enter the United States.
The free and family-friendly event will be held at 4 p.m. on June 1 at the Goodridge Freedom Center and Underground Railroad Museum. The museum is at 123 E. Philadelphia Street in York and the event is part of York’s monthly “First Friday” series. It being co-hosted by the Crispus Attucks Association of York. Lobach’s presentation will begin at 6 p.m.
The event commemorates the 25th anniversary of the Chinese freighter Golden Venture running aground in New York in 1993. Inside the ship were 286 Chinese passengers trying to escape their home country to the United States. While the refugees were detained and scattered throughout the country, a large contingent of the group was housed in the York County Prison from 1993 to 1997.
In York, Lobach, then the president of the York County Bar Association, and a group of other central Pennsylvania attorneys fought for the rights of the refugees through the bar association.
The Golden Venture case remains the biggest pro bono case ever undertaken by Barley Snyder and the York County Bar Association.
“It is important to look back on the events surrounding Golden Venture because, frankly, the questions it brings up are still relevant questions in today’s America,” Lobach said. “I’m both proud and excited to share its lessons and history with those who are aware of the case and a new generation of people who may be hearing about it for the first time.”
The case drew headlines across the country and catapulted Lobach into the national spotlight. It also led to Barley Snyder establishing its thriving Immigration Practice Group and to the founding of the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center, which provides refugees with immigration assistance from a staff of about four attorneys.
About Barley Snyder
Barley Snyder is a law firm based in central Pennsylvania with more than 90 attorneys practicing from offices located in Lancaster, York, Reading, Harrisburg, Malvern, Hanover and Gettysburg, Pa., and Hunt Valley, Md. The firm serves businesses, individuals and organizations in all major areas of civil law including: business, employment, immigration, employee benefits, finance & creditors’ rights, intellectual property, litigation, estate planning and administration, real estate, tax, construction, environment and energy, health care, education, municipal authority, and food and agribusiness. www.barley.com | @BarleySnyder
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