Continued Commitment to Pro Bono Work

Sullivan & Cromwell considers pro bono work an important commitment of every lawyer, as well as a tool by which lawyers can supplement and bolster their skills. In 2010, S&C lawyers devoted almost 65,000 hours to public service, engaging in a broad range of pro bono activities. S&C lawyers achieved results for diverse groups of individuals in need of legal representation and for legal, charitable, and government organizations. S&C’s work included both individual pro bono initiatives and ongoing, long-term “signature projects.” The breadth of pro bono matters handled and the results achieved are representative of our lawyers’ depth of expertise across a range of practice areas, including Estates & Personal, General Practice (Corporate), Litigation and Tax.

INDIVIDUAL PRO BONO INITIATIVES

Asylum

S&C lawyers successfully assisted, on a pro bono basis, numerous refugees from around the world in their efforts to obtain asylum from all nature of persecution, including political, religious, and gender-based persecution. The Firm’s lawyers have obtained asylum for immigrants from Togo, Congo, Honduras, Uzbekistan, Chad, Mali, Guinea, Nepal, and many other countries. In one matter, the Firm obtained asylum for a Guatemalan girl who had fled to the United States to escape years of physical torture and abuse by a gang member who abducted her from her family at age twelve.

Constitutional Law

S&C lawyers joined with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to challenge an Arkansas statute, Act 1, which prohibited cohabiting couples from serving as adoptive or foster parents. In April 2010, an Arkansas court granted summary judgment in favor of S&C pro bono clients in the matter, but the State and Family Council appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court. On April 7, 2011, the Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed the lower court decision and struck down Act 1 as an unconstitutional violation of fundamental privacy rights under the Arkansas Constitution.

Criminal Practice

S&C lawyers serve pro bono on the Criminal Justice Act Panels in the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. As such, they represent indigent defendants in federal criminal cases pre-trial, at trial, and on appeal. The Firm’s lawyers also represent pro bono clients around the country (1) in various habeas corpus matters, (2) in post-conviction death row proceedings, and (3) in federal narcotics prosecutions. In addition, S&C associates serve as Special Assistant District Attorneys in the Kings County District Attorney’s Office Appeals Bureau. Working under the supervision of a full-time Assistant District Attorney in the Appeals Bureau, the associates who serve as Special Assistant District Attorneys represent the Office in criminal appeals filed in the New York State Supreme Court, Second Appellate Division.

Domestic Violence

S&C lawyers (1) advise battered women in conjunction with organizations such as inMotion, Inc., Sanctuary for Families, and Refugee Assistance Center, (2) help battered immigrant women and children gain legal residency under the federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), and (3) provide representation in family court and in uncontested divorce proceedings. Through the Sanctuary for Families Bronx Family Justice Center Project, lawyers screen and represent survivors of domestic violence. Ongoing matters include (i) representing a woman from Latvia in seeking to reopen deportation proceedings by filing a VAWA petition, (ii) representing a client in seeking the continuation of a protective order and sole custody of her son, and (iii) representing a survivor of domestic violence in seeking an uncontested divorce.

Homelessness and Housing

The Firm’s lawyers handled a corporate governance review for The Partnership for the Homeless, Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides services to homeless persons in New York City and advocates for policies to help eliminate the root causes of homelessness. Through the Civil Court of the City of New York’s Volunteer Lawyer for a Day Program, teams of attorneys provide limited scope representation to tenants in non-payment proceedings in housing court.

International Impact

Lawyers in the Firm’s London office work with Advocates for International Development (A4ID) on several matters, including (1) assisting People in Aid in registering as a charitable entity in the United States, (2) helping Village Water Limited, a UK-based charity that works in Zambia, in contract negotiations, and (3) advising Interact Worldwide, an international sexual and reproductive health and rights NGO, on its arrangements with local partner organizations. Lawyers in the London office have also partnered with Lawyers in Schools, part of the Citizenship Foundation, which is a London-based civic and educational program that places lawyers and legal professionals in school classrooms to work with and to mentor young people and develop their awareness and understanding of the law. General Practice partner William Plapinger also serves as a Commissioner on the United States–United Kingdom Educational Commission, which oversees the administration of academic awards under the Fulbright Program.

SIGNATURE PROJECTS

• The Bet Tzedek Holocaust Reparations Project, which assists Holocaust survivors in preparing applications for a reparation payment from Germany.
• Sanctuary for Families’ U Visa Project, which assists immigrants, many of whom are survivors of domestic violence and have cooperated with the district attorney’s office in a prosecution, with their eligibility for U Visas and work permits. S&C lawyers and legal assistants interview the applicants, gather all relevant documents, and complete and submit the applications.
• NYC Law Department Deposition Public Service Program, which allows S&C associates to take depositions on behalf of the NYC Law Department’s Brooklyn Tort Division.
• The City Bar Justice Center Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project (NELP), which provides free legal assistance to low-income micro-entrepreneurs in New York City who are interested in starting or are already engaged in a small business with fewer than five employees. NELP provides legal help on a variety of basic commercial legal issues, including formation of corporations and partnerships; review and negotiation of real estate leases; trademark and copyright protection questions; and sales and service contract questions.
• The VOLS Unemployment Insurance Advocacy Project, which provides pro bono legal services to individuals who have lost their jobs and subsequently have been denied unemployment insurance benefits.
• The Bronx Defenders Monday Night Arraignments Project, through which lawyers provide limited scope representation to defendants charged with misdemeanors in Bronx Criminal Court.
• The Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund’s name change clinic, which services low-income members of the transgender community in New York who are seeking to change their legal name to conform to their gender identity.
• Microsoft KIND, a pro bono project dedicated to representing children who have no families in the U.S. and are in need of representation in immigration matters.
• The Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem Misdemeanor Project (NDS), which enables law firm associates to appear as of counsel to NDS on misdemeanor cases in Manhattan Criminal Court. The associate handles the matter from initial arraignment through final disposition, including trial.
• The Sanctuary for Families Bronx Family Justice Center, through which lawyers screen and represent victims of domestic violence.

ONGOING PRO BONO AND COMMUNITY PROJECTS

AIDS Clinic

2010 marks the twenty-first year that S&C lawyers have hosted a bi-weekly legal clinic at New York-Presbyterian Hospital’s Center for Special Studies and its Gay Men’s Health Crisis satellite location, in which the Firm’s lawyers provide valuable estate planning services to impoverished AIDS and HIV-positive patients. Since 1989, lawyers at the Firm have dedicated more than 13,000 hours to this project.

Equal Justice Works

The Firm’s Equal Justice Works Fellowships Program creates partnerships among public interest lawyers, nonprofit organizations, and law firm/corporate sponsors in an effort to provide underrepresented populations with valuable and effective access to the justice system. Under this program, the Firm supports a new lawyer in a two-year assignment at a nonprofit public interest organization where the lawyer implements projects that address critical community needs. In partnership with Goldman Sachs, S&C currently sponsors one Equal Justice Works Fellow, Gina Clayton, who works with the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, specifically in the areas of housing and homelessness. 

RECOGNITIONS

• S&C was awarded Human Rights First’s 2010 Frankel Award for its pro bono work on behalf of asylum applicants.
• In September 2010, retired partner and of counsel Mike Cooper was awarded the Cyrus R. Vance Access to Justice Award in New York City.
• In May 2010, S&C and Bill Snipes were honored at the New York Urban League’s 45th Annual Frederick Douglass Awards Dinner for the Firm’s efforts in developing the Pipeline Crisis/Winning Strategies Initiative.
• S&C was recognized in the Financial Times’ U.S. Innovative Lawyers Report, published on December 1. The survey, which was the inaugural issue and examined the state of innovation in the legal industry, ranked S&C among the top U.S. firms in the pro bono category for the role of S&C lawyers in two LGBT civil rights cases – Cole v. Arkansas and Gillman v. School Board for Holmes County, Florida.
• In November 2010, the Legal Aid Society presented S&C with a Pro Bono Publico Award for the Firm’s work on behalf of New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman’s task force to expand access to civil legal services in New York City.
• In May 2010, Rodge and Barbara Cohen were honored with the Servant of Justice Award at the Legal Aid Society’s 33rd Annual Dinner in New York.
• In January 2010, the New York State Bar Association held a ceremony honoring the 2009 NYSBA Empire State Counsel Honorees, a recognition awarded to members of the NYSBA who provided at least 50 hours of pro bono service in 2009. A total of 100 S&C attorneys received the honor, providing more than 20,000 hours in pro bono service.
• In December 2010, the Cumberland County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in New Jersey dedicated a dog kennel to Dick Howe and Ari Blaut for their ongoing pro bono representation of the society since December 2007. During that time, Dick and Ari have advised the society on revisions to its bylaws and certificate of incorporation, a contested trustee election, and the implementation of an endowment.
• In June 2011, Sullivan & Cromwell received the Law Firm Leadership Award at Sanctuary for Families’ Zero Tolerance Benefit.
• The Los Angeles Office was honored with the Equal Justice Advocacy Award at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California’s 17th Annual Law Luncheon in June 2011.