Continued Commitment to Pro Bono Work

Our Firm continues its strong tradition of pro bono and community service by engaging in a broad spectrum of efforts on behalf of individuals and organizations that would otherwise be unrepresented or underserved. In 2007, our lawyers devoted more than 54,000 hours to pro bono and other public service matters. In addition, we created the position of Special Counsel for Pro Bono Initiatives to allow our Firm to enhance its deep commitment to pro bono work and broaden the opportunities and types of pro bono cases and projects for our lawyers and our communities. Recent examples of our Firm’s public service and pro bono work include:

• Freedom of Speech. On May 13, 2008, following a two-day trial, Judge Richard Smoak of the United States District Court, Northern District of Florida, Panama City Division, issued an order ruling that a student’s right to wear clothing or items demonstrating support of equal rights for gay and lesbian people is protected by the First Amendment. The student sought help from counsel after she was forbidden from wearing certain clothing and symbols by school officials who claimed the items were disruptive to the academic environment. The Judge stated that the school officials’ actions violated the student’s rights protected under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, and permanently enjoined school officials from “restraining, prohibiting, or suppressing” students from expressing their support for the respect and equal treatment of gay and lesbian people. The court also ordered the school district to inform in writing the student body and school officials throughout the County that students are permitted to express support for the “respect, equal treatment and fair acceptance of” gay and lesbian persons. Sullivan & Cromwell lawyers including John Warden, Garrard Beeney, Maura Miller, Meg Holzer, Thomas Laughlin and Vincent Liu represented the student on a pro bono basis as co-counsel with the ACLU; Megan Bradley served as law clerk on the matter. Pro bono trial support services were provided by DecisionQuest.
• Asylum. S&C’s lawyers have successfully assisted numerous refugees from around the world in their efforts to obtain asylum from all forms of persecution, including political, religious and gender-based. Our Firm’s lawyers have obtained asylum for immigrants from many parts of the world, including Togo, Uzbekistan, Chad, Mali, Guinea and Nepal. Ongoing asylum matters include the representation of a Honduran activist, for both women’s rights and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, in extensive trial hearings after which she was granted asylum by an immigration judge in a decision that is being appealed by the government.
• Domestic Violence. S&C’s lawyers represent and counsel battered women in conjunction with organizations such as inMotion, Inc., Sanctuary for Families and Refugee Assistance Center to help battered immigrant women and children gain legal residency under the federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and provide representation in Family Court as well as in contested and uncontested divorce proceedings. Currently, our lawyers are representing a woman from Latvia in seeking to reopen deportation proceedings by filing a VAWA petition. S&C also has joined Sanctuary for Families’ U Visa Project, which assists immigrants, many of whom are victims of domestic violence, who have cooperated with the district attorney’s office in a prosecution. As a result of their cooperation, these immigrants are eligible for U Visas and work permits.
• Homelessness. An S&C lawyer succeeded in obtaining a reversal of the Appellate Term’s decision to allow the eviction of an elderly woman from her apartment. The woman’s landlord attempted to remove her from her rent-stabilized home of more than 30 years, based on the alleged drug activity of her adult son and adult grandson.
• International Impact. Our Firm’s lawyers handled the initial incorporation and organization of Rwanda Gift for Life, a not-for-profit organization that supports Rwandan women who were raped during the genocide and now have AIDS.

Our Firm continues to be recognized as a leader among large firms in pro bono participation. For example:

• S&C was honored by the Legal Aid Society at its annual Pro Bono Awards Ceremony. The ceremony recognized 33 law firms that have provided significant pro bono support to the Legal Aid Society and the individual lawyers who worked on particular cases.
• S&C was honored to receive STRIVE, Inc.’s Corporate Angel Award for our Firm’s efforts in developing the Pipeline Crisis/Winning Strategies Initiative. STRIVE is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to preparing hard-to-employ individuals to enter the workforce and to finding them long-term employment.
• S&C was named as one of only nine law firms with more than 10 attorneys who qualified as 2007 Empire State Counsel Honorees, having provided at least 50 hours of pro bono service.