Jeffrey Masters, ’16, is one of a team of attorneys at Dechert who received the firm’s annual Samuel K. Klein Pro Bono Award for representing 16 individuals from Afghanistan who had been detained at the Guantanamo Bay prison.

The team began representing the detainees in 2004, quickly gaining the repatriation of five individuals whose cases arose from mistaken identities.  The lawyers continued working on behalf of the other 11 detainees, and won the release of the last one in January of 2017.

An associate at Dechert, Masters focuses his practice on general litigation matters, supporting the firm’s  litigation, complex commercial litigation, white collar, securities litigation and appellate efforts.

When he graduated, Masters received the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Performance as a Law Student as well as Pro Bono Service Honors for having completed more than 101 hours of service in the community.  

Dechert has received many awards for its Pro Bono Practice, including the American Bar Association’s 2014 Pro Bono Publico Award, the American Civil Liberties Union- New Jersey Legal Leadership Award and #1 ranking for international pro bono service from The American Lawyer in 2016.