LYNN SOODIK-STEPHAN WASSERMAN FAMILY TO RECEIVE GABRIELLA AXELRAD EDUCATION FOUNDATION'S "FOUNDERS AWARD"

Family Honored For Generosity to Inner-City Kids' Non-Profit Dance Program

Los Angeles, CA (May, 2008) – Two luminaries of the family law bar, veteran family law attorney Lynn Soodik and husband Stephan Wasserman, managing partner of the accounting firm Gursey | Schneider LLP, are being honored this month for their efforts to help realize a colleague’s charitable vision after the tragic loss of her daughter.

In 1999, Liza Bercovici, also a family law attorney, lost her 13-year-old daughter Gabriella. Gabri, an incoming 8th grader at Harvard-Westlake School, had served as flower girl in Soodik and Wasserman's 1993 wedding and the families were close. When Liza and her husband, appellate specialist David Axelrad, determined to establish a non-profit in Gabri’s memory, the Soodik-Wasserman family signed on. Gabri had been an avid dancer. The non-profit, the Gabriella Axelrad Education Foundation (www.everybodydance.org), began offering dance classes at no cost to inner-city Los Angeles children. Within two years, the program was offering over 100 weekly dance classes at three sites to almost 1000 underserved children per year and in 2005, the non-profit established the first dance-themed public elementary charter school in California, Gabriella Charter School.

As the non-profit expanded, Lynn joined the board; both the couple and Steve’s firm, Gursey | Schneider LLP, became deeply committed supporters. Eventually, the effort expanded to the entire family: daughter Sydney, 13, made the organization the focus for her recent Bat Mitzvah fundraising while Zoe, 8, was the driving force behind a book drive last year which netted Gabriella Charter School over 4,200 books for its library.

Soodik shares: "Gabri was our flower girl, and I will always hold her memory near and dear. While I appreciate being honored, to me the real honor comes from having the opportunity, through Gabriella Charter School and 'everybody dance!,' to participate in helping so many underprivileged children in Los Angeles attain a better life. I also get the opportunity to teach my own children to be philanthropic."

The Soodik- Wasserman family will be honored this month by the Gabriella Axelrad Education Foundation with its Founders Award. The award will be presented at the Foundation's "8th Annual Event" held on May 31 at 8 p.m. at UCLA's Northwest Campus Auditorium.

Lynn Soodik operates a Santa Monica law practice devoted to the field of family and matrimonial law. She is a frequent guest on Larry King Live, Entertainment Tonight and Extra, where she is customarily identified as a “celebrity attorney.”

Through its program, “everybody dance!." the foundation named for Gabriella Axelrad has nurtured talented dancers from the city’s most impacted neighborhoods. The "Los Angeles Times" described its dance faculty as “some of the best children’s dance instructors in the world”; its students have gone on to prestigious schools (Juilliard) and to win prestigious awards in the dance field (Los Angeles Music Center “Spotlight Award,” among others).

Meanwhile, at Gabriella Charter School, located directly opposite the Central Civil West Courthouse, every student receives one hour of daily dance instruction and dance is integrated into a standards-based curriculum. Despite the fact that over 90% of its 152 students fall below the federal poverty guidelines and two-thirds are English language learners, the School’s students have each year achieved test scores in excess of the State’s benchmark 800 target, making it one of the top-performing local elementary schools. In 2006, Los Angeles Magazine described Gabriella as one of the “great” elementary schools in Los Angeles.

Honored alongside the Soodik-Wasserman family on May 31 will be veteran tap dancer Arthur Duncan ("The Lawrence Welk Show") with the Gregory Hines Humanitarian Award; Yvonne Mounsey, founder and director of Santa Monica's "Westside Ballet," with the Advancement of the Arts Award, and actress/dancer Jenna Dewan ("Step Up" and "Take the Lead") with the Limelight Award.

The Soodik-Wasserman family lives in Santa Monica, CA.

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