BigLaw firm donates $1M to civil rights group
Hogan Lovells has donated $1 million to the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law to help advance its legal work against racial discrimination.
The donation to the committee is the “largest donation from a law firm in modern times,” says Reynolds Graves, media relations manager for the group. The committee was formed in 1963 after President John F. Kennedy called on the private bar to provide legal services to address racial discrimination.
The group hopes to use the money to expand its partnership with Hogan Lovells on issues that include protecting voting rights, increasing fairness in criminal justice, enforcing the Fair Housing Act, and addressing racial barriers to economic opportunity.
The committee has a $10 million annual budget that is funded with money from foundations, corporations, law firms and the public, Graves says. The group also receives pro bono assistance. In 2017, for example, law firms donated 50,800 pro bono hours valued at more than $32 million, Graves says.
Hogan Lovells recently was co-counsel with the committee to obtain a fair housing settlement against Nassau County, New York.
Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said in a press release Hogan Lovells has long demonstrated its commitment to promoting equal justice under law. The $1 million donation will further that goal, she said.
“This extraordinary support, providing both financial support and expanded pro bono resources, is crucial to help us meet the pressing challenges of our time,” Clarke said. “Our hope is that their generous action will spur other law firms and corporations to similarly provide much-needed support for the work of nonpartisan organizations in this era.”
Graves says his group plans to use the money to further work on these three projects:
• The group’s nonpartisan Election Protection Coalition ensures equal voting rights by operating a hotline, providing voter information, documenting voting problems, and working with volunteers and partners to identify and remove barriers to voting. “Election Protection focuses on the voter—not on the political horse race—and provides guidance, information and help to any American, regardless of his or her voting choices,” Graves tells the ABA Journal.
• The group’s Criminal Justice Project challenges racial disparities stemming from the criminalization of poverty. “People of color and the poor face unequal justice when law enforcement and court operations prioritize revenue-generation over public safety,” Graves says.
• The group’s Fair Housing Project fights discrimination in housing through enforcement of the FHA and promotes greater opportunity for low-income people of color through legal and community-based strategies.
