Discover the transformative impact of our pro bono program. Highlights include a Supreme Court victory benefiting 1.7 million veterans, assisting hundreds of nonprofits with their legal needs, helping former students of the Glen Mills Schools receive compensation, and our successful asylum claim that allowed a Jordanian woman to escape the domestic abuse she long suffered. Our dedicated attorneys collaborate with community partners and in-house legal teams to address critical needs of individuals, nonprofits, and small businesses in our communities. Read the full report to learn more about our unwavering commitment to pro bono service.

• Affirmed a judgment of $2.5 million in damages on behalf of pro bono client Jane Doe. The case alleged that a Muslim clergy counselor, who had provided counseling to Jane Doe starting at the age of 13, had used his trusted position at one of the largest mosques in the country to sexually assault and exploit her. The firm, along with co-counsel Farhana Querishi and Asiya Salejee of Querishi & Salejee PLLC, represented Jane Doe in a three-day bench trial before Judge Emily Tobolowsky in the 298th Judicial District Court in Dallas County.

• The Supreme Court ended a nine-year battle fought by FBI Special Agent James Rudisill, a decorated U.S. Army veteran, who sued the Department of Veterans Affairs for wrongly denying him the GI Bill education benefits he earned during his service (Rudisill v. McDonough). The decision will allow approximately 1.7 million+ Post-9/11 veterans to receive additional education benefits owed to them under the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Mr. Rudisill’s pro bono team included Timothy McHugh, Misha Tseytlin, Kevin LeRoy, Abbey Thornhill, Trey Smith, Sean Dutton, and Carson Cox, and David DePippo from client Dominion Energy.

• Obtained a jury verdict from the Northern District of Illinois in favor of a pro bono court-appointed client’s excessive force claims under the Prison Litigation Reform Act. The case alleged that after the client, Abre Jackson, was granted his request for grade restoration and segregation reduction by the Illinois Department of Corrections and later moved to a separate facility, the defendants refused to acknowledge Jackson’s imminent restoration. Jackson then pleaded his case behind bars through his open chuck hole, a six-inch-high by one-foot-wide food opening barely large enough for him to fit both arms through while hunched over, which set the excessive force in motion. Jackson asserted constitutional claims for cruel and unusual punishment, resulting in a jury trial that ruled in favor of his excessive force claim. The jury also awarded Jackson compensatory and punitive damages.

• In partnership with Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), the firm secured permanent residency for an unaccompanied child who initially entered the U.S. immigration system alone. After more than seven years of the firm’s dedicated advocacy through various legal proceedings, the young individual is now a permanent resident of the U.S.

• Secured a pro bono win before the Supreme Court of Georgia on behalf of Ryan Duke after he fired his public defender and retained Evan Gibbs as pro bono counsel. The trial court held that Duke was not entitled to state funding to retain experts or an investigator, declining to extend the benefits available under Georgia’s Indigent Defense Act to cases in which private pro bono counsel had been retained. Gibbs and the defense team challenged this, and the Georgia Supreme Court held that indigent defendants who retain private pro bono counsel do not lose the other benefits provided under the Indigent Defense Act. After these benefits were secured, Duke was acquitted on his charges of murder, assault, and burglary.

• Attorneys across the firm’s offices help clients secure expungements or expunctions — the clearing or sealing of their records. Dozens of attorneys logged hundreds of hours toward pro bono expungement work over each of the last two years alone.

• Provided pro bono support to families and school districts as a state court in New Mexico ruled that New Mexico’s education system violated the state constitution because it failed to provide students a sufficient public education. According to the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty press release, the lawsuit challenged the state’s arbitrary and inadequate funding of public schools as well as its failure to provide students with the programs and services needed to be college, career, and civic ready.

• Assisted clients with the expunction of certain past criminal charges and convictions, thus increasing clients’ chances of obtaining employment and housing, through volunteer work with the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy.

• Secured asylum on behalf of a client fleeing domestic violence from her partner in El Salvador in a matter our Washington, D.C. attorneys by referral from the Tahirih Justice Center.

• Casa Esperanza, a bilingual and bicultural behavioral health facility dedicated to serving the Latinx community in Massachusetts, honored the firm with the 2024 Community Partner Award, recognizing the firm’s ongoing commitment to providing essential pro bono legal support and counsel to the community.

• Melissa Oellerich New was recognized with the KINDness Matters Award by Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), the preeminent international nongovernmental organization devoted to the protection of unaccompanied and separated children.

• The National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP) presented the firm with its 2024 Pro Bono Partner of the Year Award.

• The firm received the Philadelphia Bar Foundation’s 2024 Pro Bono Award for its creation of The Pepper Center for Public Service.

• Sahara Shrestha and Quintessa Davis were selected as recipients of the inaugural Donald Ridings Service Award by Rising for Justice. The duo was recognized during the Rising for Justice’s Celebration of Service, for their outstanding contributions to Rising for Justice’s expungement program. They recently partnered with the legal nonprofit to help seal the records of a client who had spent more than two decades dealing with difficulties associated with three arrests, all of which ended in non-conviction. Despite the non-convictions, the mere existence of these records interfered with the client’s ability to obtain higher-paying, stable employment.

• Madeline Moore, Pro Bono Director, and Counsel was named Pro Bono Partner of the Year by the Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE). A4TE was founded in 2024 as the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) and Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF), two longtime champions for the trans community, merged together as one organization. A4TE builds on their successes to boldly imagine a world where trans people live our lives joyfully and without barriers.

• Max Gladstone, Director of Innovation, and Mayisha Khan, Senior Innovation Solutions Analyst, were named “Unsung Heroes” for their key roles in developing a system for an Education Law Center pro bono project, which streamlined the process for former Glen Mills Schools students to receive settlement awards.

• Lisanne Crowley, Elizabeth McCormick, and Troutman Pepper alumna Katherine (Kat) O’Konski were recognized by the Tahirih Justice Center for their pro bono services to the organization. The national nonprofit named the trio among its Journey to Justice 2024 Honorees for their work to help survivors and advance the organization’s mission to end gender-based violence.

• The firm was recognized for its pro bono efforts to address issues related to civil and human rights, receiving the 2024 Beacon of Justice Award from The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA). The award honors firms that have demonstrated an understanding of the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and other characteristics that may create interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.

• The firm was also named 2023 Law Firm of the Year by Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta (PBPA) for its contributions of attorney time and counsel helping Atlanta area nonprofits. In 2023, the firm handled more than 30 matters referred by the legal nonprofit with attorneys collectively logging nearly 500 hours.

• The American Bar Association recognized the firm as an ABA Free Legal Answers Pro Bono Leader (2021) for the firm’s tremendous contribution to the program, which offers a free virtual legal advice clinic for low-income individuals.

• Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas recognized the firm in both 2016 and 2018 as a Pro Bono Champion, which celebrates firms and volunteers that have devoted an extraordinary amount of financial support and time helping low-income clients access the justice system by providing legal advice and representation.