Pro Bono

Sonnenschein Pro Bono Case Produces Options for Developmentally Disabled

A consent decree obtained with the help of pro bono counsel Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal will give Illinois residents with developmental disabilities the option of moving from large facilities to community-based settings. The suit had contended unnecessary institutionalization violates the Americans With Disabilities Act. The consent decree gave the class…

Nov 19, 2008 8:12 PM CST

Liberty Counsel Announces ‘Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign’

The conservative Christian legal group Liberty Counsel is urging Christians to avoid shopping at “naughty” companies that avoid use of the word “Christmas.” The plea is part of Liberty Counsel’s sixth annual “Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign,” according to the Christian Post Reporter. The legal group has released a list…

Nov 18, 2008 3:43 PM CST

Harvard Law Warns Legal Services Clients of Lost Personal Data

Harvard Law School is warning thousands of clients at one of its legal services clinics that it has lost a backup computer tape containing Social Security numbers and other personal data. A technician lost the tape on the subway, the Boston Globe reports. The tape from the school’s legal clinic…

Nov 6, 2008 4:28 PM CST

Cravath Withdraws as Pro Bono Counsel Following Claim of Altered Tape

Cravath, Swaine & Moore has withdrawn as pro bono counsel for a convict who won a new trial on the basis of another man’s audiotaped murder confession that is now alleged to be a fake. Cravath and co-counsel Thomas Hoffman both deny any wrongdoing in the case, the AmLaw Daily…

Nov 5, 2008 3:55 PM CST

Lawyers at the Ready for Election Day Disputes

A group called the Election Protection Coalition will be dispatching lawyers today to take calls of voter complaints and go to court to preserve voting access. Michael Waldman, executive director of the Brennan Center for Justice, told Legal Times he expects to see a lot of courtroom battles. “We expect…

Nov 4, 2008 1:37 PM CST

Denver Law Firm Forms ‘Karma Committees’

The managing partner of Denver law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck says he thinks community involvement helps keep lawyers happy. To that end, the law firm has created “karma committees” for lawyers and staffers to work on good deeds. Managing partner and chief executive officer Bruce James told the National…

Nov 3, 2008 5:45 PM CST

Connecting With a Cause

Finnegan takes on disabled vets’ cases—and counsel

Nov 2, 2008 1:50 AM CDT

Convicted as a Teen, Jailed for 10 Years, Mario Rocha Now Hopes to Be a Lawyer

After a 12-year legal odyssey, a 29-year-old California man who has long maintained his innocence of a 1996 murder is free to move on with his life. In his future, he hopes, is a college degree and a career as a lawyer. Saying that they could not now locate witnesses…

Oct 29, 2008 4:29 PM CDT

Chemerinsky to Jacobs: Let’s Debate

When 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs made his “provocative” remarks regarding pro bono service at a Federalist Society meeting earlier this month, he may have stirred up more than he bargained for. Now Erwin Chemerinsky, the University of California-Irvine dean who’s been critical of the…

Oct 24, 2008 7:05 PM CDT

Davis Polk Pro Bono Win: $4.6M for Workers at NY Restaurant

Thirty-six delivery workers at a Vietnamese restaurant with two locations in Manhattan were awarded $4.6 million for wage and overtime violations in a suit handled pro bono by Davis Polk & Wardwell. The law firm worked on the case with the Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Am Law…

Oct 23, 2008 1:06 PM CDT

Big-Firm Lawyers Posed for Hottie Calendar

It may not have the sexy appeal of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, but a new hottie lawyers calendar features photos that may be just as interesting, at least to the Massachusetts legal community. The calendar features 12 lawyers from the state. There isn’t a one wearing a swimsuit. The…

Oct 23, 2008 11:44 AM CDT

Dean: 2nd Circuit Judge Should Apologize for ‘Anti-Social’ Remark

Updated: As a longtime law professor and now dean, Erwin Chemerinsky is a regular on the pro bono scene. So when he read news reports that 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs was critical of the pro bono work orchestrated by law firms, he was taken…

Oct 22, 2008 5:47 PM CDT

10K Legal Vols Man Election Night Call Centers

Thousands of lawyers have volunteered to man 25 call centers throughout the country as voting gets under way Nov. 4. Most of the call centers—which field questions from frustrated voters—are overseen by law firms, including Kirkland & Ellis, Davis Polk, Simpson Thacher, Proskauer Rose, White & Case, and Sullivan &…

Oct 21, 2008 6:42 PM CDT

2nd Circuit Chief Judge Says Pro Bono Work is ‘Anti-Social’

The chief judge of the New York City-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blasted pro bono work as “anti-social” and “self-serving” at a Federalist Society meeting this week. Judge Dennis Jacobs contended pro bono work is an “anti-social” activity that is sometimes used to expand courts’ reach into legislative…

Oct 15, 2008 2:59 PM CDT

Only 2 Percent of D.C. Tenants Have Lawyers in Court, Report Says

A report concludes that low-income residents in Washington, D.C., don’t know where to find legal help and don’t get the aid they need in civil cases. The report said only 2 percent of tenants in landlord-tenant court and 2 percent of parties in domestic violence cases are represented by lawyers,…

Oct 8, 2008 4:35 PM CDT