The Boston Bar Association (BBA) has recognized WilmerHale retired partner Cindy Vreeland with its 2026 Mary K. Ryan Achievement in Pro Bono Award, honoring a career in which she paired a demanding intellectual property practice with sustained advocacy for human trafficking survivors.

Created in 2024 to honor the memory of the former BBA president, the award recognizes Massachusetts attorneys who have demonstrated an exemplary commitment to pro bono, at any career stage. Vreeland is one of eight recipients this year, a group the BBA credits with advancing protections for trafficking survivors, helping asylum seekers and unaccompanied children pursue safety, and expanding access to representation for low-income consumers and survivors of domestic violence.

Vreeland retired from the firm as a nationally recognized litigator with more than 30 years of experience, focused on patent and trade secret litigation, who served as lead or co-lead counsel in more than 20 trials. Alongside that practice she maintained an active pro bono practice, including precedent-setting representation of human trafficking victims. She led the team that represented pro bono client Lisa Ricchio in the first civil sex trafficking case filed against a motel under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), which set several important precedents and made it possible for trafficking victims across the United States to file similar suits. The National Law Journal named her a Plaintiffs' Lawyers Trailblazer for that representation, and the Human Trafficking Center named the Ricchio team its Litigation Team of the Year for 2020.

Learn more about this year's honorees here.