Recent Pro Bono Work

Pro bono is an important part of who we are and what we have done historically. It is an integral part of the firm's culture and is recognized as such—not something you do at the end of the day. Many of our lawyers participate in pro bono, and our staff members participate in public service, because they share the same belief, that it is the right thing to do.

Lawyers receive full billable credit for pro bono work and participation is strictly voluntary. Many of our lawyers participate in pro bono work because it presents the opportunity to advance their skill set and to build strong relationships with both clients and colleagues at the firm. Lawyers from across departments and across offices participate, so there is the opportunity to get to know those with whom you might not otherwise work. You also have the opportunity to take primary responsibility for matters very early on in your career and to work on matters that may be outside your normal practice area. In the long run, this helps you better service your clients because you gain a deeper understanding of what your colleagues in other practices do.

At WilmerHale, you can do the type of pro bono work that interests you. There is no particular litmus test for the types of cases we take and we advocate on various sides of today’s leading issues. The firm gives you access to an incredible range of matters. In recent pro bono efforts, we:

• Obtained an injunction from Maryland's highest court against all further executions in that state because of a failure to promulgate lethal injection procedures in conformity with the Maryland Administrative Procedure Act
  
• Represented six Bosnian-Algerians, including Lakhdar Boumediene, who have been detained at Guantanamo since 2002. On June 12, 2008, the US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that detainees held in Guantanamo Bay have a constitutional right to challenge their detention in US civilian courts; and on November 20, 2008 a federal court upheld the claim of five Bosnian-Algerian men that the US Government had no lawful basis for imprisoning them at Guantanamo Bay, where they have been held for nearly seven years
  
• Continued to serve as national legal counsel for City Year, supporting its public policy work and United States and South African operations engaging young people for a year of national service
  
• Secured a “Deferred Action” visa for Yirdaw Anteneh, an Ethiopian man who faced deportation after his work visa expired while he was receiving urgent care for his failing liver
  
• Successfully brought a class action lawsuit, Rosie D. v. Romney, on behalf of nine named plaintiffs, ages five to 18, and obtained a landmark ruling that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts violated federal law by failing to provide behavioral health services to an estimated 15,000 children with serious emotional disturbance
  
• Overturned the wrongful conviction of Dewey Bozella, who spent 26 years in a New York prison for a murder he did not commit. Bozella is now free and living a life enriched by the graduate degree he pursued during his incarceration
  
• Helped persuade the US Supreme Court to uphold the constitutionality of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform legislation
  
• Succeeded in defending—in a series of federal lawsuits—the Massachusetts, Texas and Washington State Interest On Lawyer Trust Account (IOLTA) programs that fund legal services for the poor
  
• Advised GALVmed, a non-profit global alliance of public, private and government partners, on developing a strategy that would ensure proper distribution of a cattle vaccine to farmers throughout Africa. This vaccine protects against East Coast Fever, a disease which kills one million cattle each year
  
• Achieved what The Washington Post described as a “stunning reversal” of a miscarriage of justice in a nationally reported case—undertaken with co-counsel from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and other firms—in Tulia, Texas, in which multiple defendants, nearly all African-American, were wrongfully convicted and sentenced on drug charges based on the completely uncorroborated testimony of a white undercover agent who was later indicted for perjury
  
• Provided research that helped the Human Rights Law Network to establish a right to shelter for the millions of homeless in India, and a right to treatment and healthcare for the estimated 5.5 million Indian citizens suffering from AIDS
  
• Assisted World Hope International in creating First Step, a subsidiary which was able to establish a special economic zone (SEZ) in Sierra Leone. The SEZ will increase the quality of goods produced in Sierra Leone as well as enhance the quality of life for those who live there
  
• Represented indigent persons through the WilmerHale Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School, a major clinical teaching facility that has assisted tens of thousands of low-income persons since the firm and its Harvard Law School alumni partners funded this unique collaboration with Harvard Law School in 1992
  
• Represented the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in arbitration at The Hague’s Peace Palace. Boundary disputes giving rise to ongoing conflict were resolved, leaving peaceful political paths in their place
  
• Obtained a settlement for Community Outreach for Vietnam Era Returnees (COVER) from the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), after the VA failed to reimburse and support COVER for the counseling services it provided to Vietnam-era veterans, imposing severe hardship on COVER and its staff
  
• On behalf of the Coalition for the Homeless and a group of homeless men and women, we—together with Legal Aid co-counsel—succeeded in enforcing a consent decree that obligates the city of New York to provide sufficient shelter, of an adequate standard, to those in need