An International Litigator is Championing Ukraine & How You Can Help

Corporate Insights

Apr 5

Bruce Marks, International Litigator, Marks & Sokolov, LLC, Managing Partner

I am Bruce Marks, an attorney in Philadelphia, who has represented clients in Ukraine for more than 20-years. My roots trace to Mukachevo and Uzgorod in Western Ukraine. Recently, I was in Warsaw helping Sean Penn on his documentary about President Zelensky and visited Lviv to observe the suffering of the Ukrainian people.

On my way back, I heard the bombing on Lviv’s outskirts. I waited in line at the border for hours with hundreds of women and children fleeing the senseless violence unleased on Ukrainian citizens. Many of my friends are bravely defending Kyiv, Dnipro, and other parts of Ukraine.

Ukraine and its Jewish community face a crisis. Over ten million Ukrainians have been attacked in their cities, villages, schools, and homes, and over four million people have been forced to seek refuge abroad. Over 10,000 have been killed, Kyiv has been under siege for weeks, and numerous cities have been destroyed. Even the memorial to the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust at Baban Yar suffered damage from Russian bombs.

Seder is the traditional service taking place in the homes of Jews worldwide to celebrate the seven-day Passover holiday and the freedom of the Jewish people following their Exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Ten Commandments through Moses in Sinai.

The Seder for Ukraine will be broadcast in April on YouTube, Facebook, and other social media during Passover. It is dedicated to raising desperately needed funds online for the Jewish and other communities in Ukraine that have been devastated by the Russian invasion.

All monies raised from the online donations will be provided to U.S. non-profits to support humanitarian needs for those in Ukraine and those seeking safety in nearby countries. The Seder anticipates participation by numerous leading Ukrainians and Americans, including Yaakov Bleich, Ukraine’s Chief Rabbi.The nonprofits we are currently supporting are:American Friends of the Jewish Community of Kyiv (501c3)Leleka Foundation (501c3)

Organizers of the Seder are galvanizing worldwide support for Ukraine, including recently meeting with Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn in Warsaw to assist in his documentary on Ukrainian President Zelensky. Organizers are on the ground as well, meeting with victims in Lviv in March when it was under attack, seeing firsthand the impact of this cruel war on innocent civilians.

The distribution of funds to the various non-profits and NGOs will be published online for donors and anyone interested to review. I will be completely transparent, so you will see that your money went to aid the suffering Jewish and non-Jewish communities in Ukraine.

Please join our Seder during Passover to celebrate freedom and to support Ukraine.