Delivering pro bono legal services in the United States

By Gina Chiappetta, Associate, Dana Foster, Partner and Charles Moore, Counsel at White and Case

Many Americans can remember being in COVID lockdown on Memorial Day 2020 and watching in horror as Minneapolis police officers took George Floyd’s life. Some American corporations issued statements condemning racial injustice and wrote checks. Global law firm White & Case LLP’s antitrust practice mobilized to take concrete action.

In June 2020, just days after George Floyd’s murder, White & Case’s antitrust practice created what eventually became its Access to Justice Initiative (the “Initiative”). The Initiative focuses on three pillars: Criminal Justice, Education & Mentoring, and Economic Empowerment. Over these last five years, the Initiative has handled dozens of projects, often in partnership with other organizations and, most excitingly for us, with White & Case corporate clients.

Here’s what’s different: now, when momentum for such initiatives has all but disappeared, White & Case Access to Justice Initiative is not only still going strong but is expanding. From a start of 50 members of the firm’s antitrust group in 2020, the Initiative has grown to approximately 160 members across thirteen White & Case offices globally, encompassing both dispute and transactional practice groups. And it’s not just antitrust lawyers anymore.

In light of shifting political and economic priorities, the Initiative anticipates that it may see an increased workload. Already, the Firm across its pro bono practice has seen an increase in requests for pro bono assistance related to immigration and assistance to NGOs in navigating the legal landscape. The Initiative expects to be involved in assisting these Firm clients, and to generate additional work on its own.

Emerging Trends in Pro Bono Practice

1. Criminal justice

The Initiative initially made its mark in the Criminal Justice reform area. This work started in Louisiana, where the Initiative partnered with the Promise of Justice Initiative. In April 2020, the US Supreme Court ruled that non-unanimous jury verdicts were unconstitutional, striking down a Jim Crow-era Louisiana scheme that permitted criminal convictions for serious offenses on 10-2 jury votes. To date, the Initiative has assisted several clients in being resentenced and released.

Building on that success, the Initiative began representing clients on their resentencing applications in Washington, D.C., where it has gained resentence and release for six clients following long sentences served for crimes committed as young adults. The Initiative has now expanded that work to Maryland.

In parallel, the Initiative is active in New York, assisting clients with sealing records of minor, non-violent offenses that can prevent individuals from earning meaningful employment, housing, and other opportunities. Getting these records sealed ends clients’ civil life sentences. The Initiative is now back in Louisiana, representing in federal court the daughter of a man who was killed by police in Jefferson Parish, New Orleans. Most encouragingly, the Initiative has partnered with White & Case’s corporate clients in doing this important work, and those clients have enthusiastically jumped into the fray—working shoulder-to-shoulder on the Initiative’s impactful work.

2. Education and mentoring

White & Case has a longstanding relationship with the Howard University School of Law, with multiple graduates of Howard Law as partners and associates among its ranks. The Initiative has expanded the relationship, creating a first-of-its-kind, pro bono-only externship with Howard in Fall 2021 that, as of Fall 2024, is now in its fourth year and on its seventh extern.

In 2022, the Initiative expanded this program to the Southern University Law Center (SULC) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, welcoming externs from another law school at an Historically Black College and University to the firm. The Initiative is now hosting its fifth SULC extern.

The Howard and Southern externs work extensively with Initiative members on all the Initiative’s projects. And, to pay the experience forward, the Initiative asks each extern to propose a new project that the Initiative can work on in the future.

3. Economic empowerment

The Initiative believes that economic empowerment is an important factor in achieving true equality. One of the early Initiative economic empowerment projects was an international one: The Initiative partnered with a London-based organization that assists refugees with job training skills. The Initiative’s work outside of the United States reflects the Firm’s DNA as a global law firm.

Here in the United States, the Initiative has provided legal seminars to chambers of commerce. These seminars cover foundational topics such as determining the appropriate corporate form, and how to protect company assets. The Initiative also is working with organizations that focus on closing the wealth gap, and it provides legal research to those organizations. The Initiative continues to expand upon this work.

White and Case’s Commitment to Pro Bono Service

The Initiative works on concrete initiatives that advance equality and justice in the United States and beyond. These are just a few of the Initiative’s initiatives, and the Initiative continues to seek additional ways to make a positive impact. With 160 members (and growing), the Initiative is well positioned to double-down on its important work.

Any views expressed in this publication are strictly those of the authors and should not be attributed in any way to White & Case LLP.