The Cost of WilmerHale’s Gitmo Victory: $17M Worth of Pro Bono Hours
WilmerHale achieved a significant but costly victory when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 12 that Guantanamo Bay detainees have habeas rights.
Since 2004 a team of up to 30 lawyers from WilmerHale has represented six Algerian terrorist suspects whose case resulted in the Supreme Court decision, the Boston Globe reports. The tab for the effort: 35,448 hours of pro bono legal help worth an estimated $17 million. Now the firm is prepared to donate more free work to help to the detainees seek release.
WilmerHale is the product of a merger between two law firms with a long history of pro bono work, the story says. A Hale & Dorr lawyer who defended the Army pro bono in the McCarthy hearings asked the famous question, “Have you no sense of decency, sir?” Wilmer, Culter & Pickering offered pro bono help to lawyers in apartheid South Africa and to serial killer Ted Bundy.
The story says other law firms working pro bono for Guantanamo detainees include Bingham McCutchen, which has donated about 10,000 lawyer hours since 2005; Pepper Hamilton, which has logged 4,000 hours; and Shearman & Sterling, which has donated about 4,000 hours.
