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Debevoise’s commitment to pro bono legal service
Debevoise lawyers have been dedicated to public service since our firm was founded over 75 years ago. Pro bono legal service is a fundamental part of who we are, and we also know how important it is to those we assist. Our commitment is deep and longstanding. We take on a large number of pro bono matters each year. Our consistent high ranking among the top law firms for pro bono work means that others have taken note. For the four years from 2004 to 2007, The American Lawyer’s A List ranked Debevoise the number one law firm in the U.S. based in part on our commitment to pro bono legal service. Debevoise also consistently ranks among the top firms in The American Lawyer’s annual pro bono survey.
According to Rick Evans, presiding partner, “We do pro bono work for a range of reasons. We think there is a professional responsibility to help fulfill the unmet need for legal services among the poor. Pro bono work also provides our lawyers with tremendous professional and personal satisfaction. There is also an additional element to our pro bono work, which is that it is another way to add interest to our practice.”
Debevoise is a charter signatory to the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge™, agreeing to commit at least 5% of our annual billed time to pro bono matters. Our pro bono work ranges from landmark international and national litigations to representing individuals in the communities in which we live and practice. Debevoise lawyers obtain pro bono work from a variety of sources. In many cases, pro bono assignments are referred to Debevoise by some of the many legal service organizations with which the firm has longstanding relationships, such as The Legal Aid Society, Human Rights First, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Inc., and LawWorks. Other pro bono projects grow out of interests that our lawyers pursue outside of the firm.
We encourage our lawyers to participate in pro bono activities early in their careers, and we support our lawyers who volunteer for pro bono work that falls outside of their particular practice areas. In all instances, our lawyers are encouraged to present proposals for pro bono engagements to the firm’s pro bono committee. Once an engagement is approved, it is handled as is any matter, with the dedication of all available firm resources appropriate to the needs of the representation.
Recent examples of our pro bono engagements:
- Representing, together with the Georgia counsel as part of the Georgia Federal Defender Program, a Georgia death row inmate petitioning for habeas corpus relief. After a week-long evidentiary hearing and extensive post-hearing briefing, the Georgia Superior Court concluded that misconduct by the bailiff and jurors during the sentencing phase of the client's trial deprived him of his state and federal rights. As a result, the court vacated the client's death sentence.
- Winning a unanimous decision on a capital case in Wickham v. Florida. In 1988, Mr. Wickham was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. On appeal, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed. In 1994, he filed his state habeas petition, which he subsequently amended to contain 21 claims. The state trial court granted an evidentiary hearing on some claims, summarily denied the remainder and ultimately denied all claims after a two-week hearing. In 2008, the Florida Supreme Court ruled in Mr. Wickham’s favor on two issues raised in his petition. The Court held that he was entitled to have the petition heard by a new judge because the existing judge was found to have personal relationships with some of the witnesses. The Court also held that the trial court must consider the affidavits of five fact witnesses who claimed the State pressured them to embellish their original testimony in material ways, even if they declined to testify live at the habeas hearing for fear of triggering perjury liability.
- Obtaining the release of an Afghan detainee, Haji Bismullah, from Guantánamo Bay, and representing other detainees at Guantánamo in conjunction with the Center for Constitutional Rights in lawsuits challenging their detention. Mr. Bismullah was released from Guantánamo Bay in early 2009, after nearly six years of detention, when the U.S. Department of Defense concluded that there was no longer a basis to classify him as an “enemy combatant,” based in part on factual materials gathered and submitted by Debevoise attorneys. Our representation of Mr. Bismullah involved not only advocating for him with the Department of Defense, but also litigating a case of first impression on Mr. Bismullah’s behalf under the Detainee Treatment Act in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
- Enabling more than 30,000 purged voters in Colorado to vote in the 2008 presidential election. Debevoise lawyers worked with the Brennan Center for Justice and the Advancement Project on Common Cause of Colorado et al. v. Michael Coffman. In October 2008, The New York Times reported that Colorado appeared to have removed tens of thousands of voters from the rolls within 90 days of the November general election, in violation of the National Voter Registration Act. On October 24, Debevoise filed a complaint and a motion for a preliminary injunction in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado and reached a settlement during the course of the hearing. Pursuant to the settlement, the Colorado Secretary of State was required to provide a list of voters taken off state rolls since May 14 to all county clerks by Election Day. These voters were allowed to cast provisional ballots, and their votes were to be counted absent clear and convincing evidence of their ineligibility. Achieving a significant settlement in one of the firm’s larger and longest lasting civil rights pro bono matters. In E.E.O.C., et al. v. Local 28 of the Sheet Metal Workers’ Int’l Assoc., Debevoise worked with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, as well as the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the State of New York and City of New York, to challenge the discriminatory practices of a labor union on behalf of a class of the union’s Black and Hispanic members. In early 2008, the Court approved a total of $6.2 million in a settlement for approximately 150 Black and Hispanic sheet metal workers. The parties have also agreed to significant changes in the union’s job-referral system, as well as monitoring systems aimed at equalizing members’ access to work opportunities.
- Securing a settlement of more than half a million dollars for five Chinatown waiters whose employer had systematically underpaid and misappropriated their tips for a decade. In 2004, Debevoise filed suit for plaintiffs, seeking damages under the FLSA and relevant New York state law for, among other things, the restaurant’s failure to pay minimum wage and overtime and the owners’ misappropriation of plaintiffs’ tips. Trial appeared imminent in early 2009. While vigorously preparing for trial, the team pursued aggressive settlement negotiations, including several marathon sessions before the magistrate judge. Debevoise ultimately secured settlements from various defendants which represent one of the largest per-plaintiff awards in recent employment cases of this kind. As a result of this litigation, working conditions have dramatically improved at the restaurant, where our clients still work.
- Representing the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)in support of its efforts to combat violations of press freedom worldwide. Most recently, we prepared for CPJ a briefing paper setting forth key legal issues in the case of Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist jailed in Tehran in early 2009. The briefing paper was distributed worldwide, preceding by a few days Ms. Saberi’s release from jail. Over the years, we have also filed amicus briefs for CPJ in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the courts of Croatia and Taiwan to challenge criminal libel prosecutions of journalists, and we advocated against a proposed law in Hong Kong that would have grievously curtailed freedom of expression.
- Defending before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts the rights of 51 Mexican nationals on death row in the United States under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. In 2004, in Avena and other Mexican Nationals (Mexico v. United States), Debevoise represented Mexico in securing a judgment from the ICJ holding that the United States had violated the Vienna Convention in the cases of 51 Mexican nationals then on death row in various states of the United States and ordering that the United States provide judicial review of their convictions and sentences in light of the violations. Debevoise then represented individual Mexican nationals in seeking to enforce the Avena judgment in the U.S. courts. After persuading the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to comply with the judgment in the first case in which a national covered by that judgment faced execution, Debevoise persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the next such case and argued before the Supreme Court in March 2005. In the meantime, President George W. Bush intervened to order compliance, and when the Supreme Court effectively sent the case back to Texas, Debevoise argued before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and then, after another grant of certiorari, again before the Supreme Court seeking enforcement of the judgment on the basis of the United Nations Charter and the President’s determination. In March 2008, in Medellin v. Texas, the Supreme Court held that the international obligation under the UN Charter to comply with the judgment was not yet effective as a matter of U.S. law. Debevoise returned to the ICJ and in July 2008 obtained an order of provisional measures to stop the execution of Mr. Medellin. The following month, however, by a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court declined to stay the execution, and Mr. Medellin was executed. Efforts to implement the Avena judgment by legislation continue.
- Representing, alongside the Social and Economic Rights Action Center, 300,000 former residents of the Maroko district of Lagos, a poor neighborhood that was demolished by Nigeria’s military government in 1990, who have taken their case for compensation and resettlement to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
- Taking part in a project through Volunteers of Legal Service in which law firms are matched with schools in low-income neighborhoods in New York City to provide pro bono civil legal services to students’ families. Debevoise is working with the KIPP Academy, a middle school in the Bronx, where we conduct a monthly legal clinic and provide advice on housing, family law, immigration, public benefits, and basic trusts and estates matters. At the end of each clinic session, Debevoise lawyers take on matters that require follow-up beyond brief advice.
- Supervising a free legal advice service at the Hackney Community Law Centre in London in conjunction with a leading law school and public interest charities. As one of the service’s many innovative features, primary responsibility for the weekly sessions rests with law students, under the supervision of qualified and experienced lawyers from the firm.
- Providing a legal advice clinic in London for social entrepreneurs in collaboration with UnLtd, the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, and pro bono charity LawWorks. Debevoise lawyers provide legal advice on topics such as charity, company and contract law.
- Assisting an English charitable foundation in performing due diligence on several potential large donations to other charities in England and Germany. This work involved forming deal teams with volunteer accountants and consultants for a short but intense period, much like our billable corporate work.
- Joining the Prisoners’ Rights Project of The Legal Aid Society in a class action lawsuit, Amador, et al. v. DOC Superintendent Anginell Andrews, et al., that seeks to end sexual abuse of female inmates by male guards in New York State women’s prisons.
- Achieving a landmark settlement in Brad H., et al. v. City of New York, a class action challenge to New York City’s practice of releasing mentally ill jail inmates without planning for their continued, post-release treatment in the community. The settlement came after years of litigation in which Debevoise secured and defended on appeal a sweeping preliminary injunction against the City. Our lawyers continue to work with two court appointees to monitor the City’s implementation of this comprehensive settlement.
- Routinely representing individual political asylum seekers, individuals challenging adverse public housing determinations, individuals seeking Social Security disability benefits, individuals in matrimonial and other family law disputes, and numerous others.
Pro Bono and Corporate Lawyers
Although many of our largest pro bono projects involve litigation, a number of our corporate lawyers are actively involved in ongoing pro bono matters. We have provided a wide range of legal services through our transactional pro bono program. Our lawyers provide legal advice to inner-city micro-enterprises through partnerships with the Business Outreach Center, the Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project and the New York Alliance for New Americans. We give ongoing tax and corporate assistance to the Community Development Venture Capital Alliance, a network of community development capital funds that provide equity capital to business in underserved markets. We assisted the Neighborhood Coalition for Shelter in drafting a loan agreement for rehabilitating its Manhattan residence for homeless people. We provided tax advice to Nazareth Housing, an organization dedicated to preventing homelessness, during their creation of the Marion Agnes House, a home for 15 very low-income families. We helped the New York Mortgage Coalition, a group of lending institutions that provides affordable mortgage counseling to low and moderate-income individuals and families, in reviewing service provider agreements with community-based organizations. Our corporate lawyers in London attend regular legal advice clinics at the Hackney Community Law Centre and hold a legal advice clinic in London at UnLtd, a foundation that supports social entrepreneurs for whom we advise on various topics such as charity, company and contract law. London lawyers also advise a range of individual charities on an ongoing basis.
Broad Partnerships
The firm has ongoing relationships with a wide variety of legal services organizations, including Lawyers Alliance for New York, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Human Rights First, The Legal Aid Society, Center for Constitutional Rights, Center for Reproductive Rights, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, the Robin Hood Foundation, Sanctuary for Families, the Urban Justice Center, Hackney Community Law Centre and LawWorks. Our lawyers also regularly perform pro bono criminal defense work, through participation in assignments from the federal Criminal Justice Act panel.
Each year, the firm sponsors and subsidizes one- and two-week externships for summer associates at legal services organizations. In recent years summer, associates have participated in one- and two-week externships at organizations such as the Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A, CAMBA Legal Services, the Housing Court Summer Assistance Project of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York Legal Aid Society Brooklyn Neighborhood Office, Legal Information for Families Today, Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, MDRC, MFY Legal Services, National Center for Law and Economic Justice, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation, South Brooklyn Legal Services, and WNYC Radio.
Debevoise Pro Bono by the Numbers
- In 2009, Debevoise attorneys in the U.S. performed 75,916 hours of pro bono work, averaging 132.7 hours per attorney in the firm’s U.S. offices.
- Over 86% of attorneys in the firm’s U.S. offices did pro bono work, and 59.6% did at least 20 hours of pro bono work.
- In 2009, 85.1% of Debevoise summer associates participated in pro bono matters.
Please click here to download our Pro Bono brochure. |
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