Equality & Justice Matters

Firm lawyers and staff are actively engaged in a wide array of matters that seek to advance equal access to justice and the rule of law. Every matter that we take on to prevent an eviction, help secure public benefits, assist an asylum seeker escape violence, represent a wrongfully incarcerated individual, or provide equal access to education (to name just a few) is a step toward a more just and equitable society. Below is a snap shot of just some of the current matters in which we are engaged. For more information, visit our Pro Bono page.

Pro Bono Matters Challenging Discrimination

• We represent the United Black Police Officers Association and the Hispanic National Law Enforcement Association in litigation against the Prince George's County Police Department in Maryland for retaliating against minority officers who have complained about racism on the force and use of excessive force against minority civilians.
• We represent the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, along with several North Carolina branches of the NAACP, in a federal Voting Rights Act and constitutional challenge to the North Carolina photo voter ID law. The complaint alleges that the law was enacted with intent to disenfranchise Black and Latinx voters. In December 2019, the team secured a preliminary injunction against implementation of the law, with the Court finding that the General Assembly enacted the law, at least in part, with discriminatory intent. The litigation continues.
• A multi-office team of Arnold & Porter lawyers represents a transgender teacher in a lawsuit against a Maryland public school district for discrimination, harassment and a hostile work environment. The team is preparing for trial.
• The firm, along with the ACLU and ACLU of Texas, represents a transient class of indigent pre-trial arrestees in Galveston County, Texas, who allege that the County engages in wealth-based discrimination in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment when setting bail for indigent arrestees. The case also alleges that the County is violating the Sixth Amendment by failing to appoint counsel for indigent arrestees at initial bail hearings.
• We are launching an effort to assist community groups in engaging in the legislative process to address police brutality.

Pro Bono Matters Related to the Protests

• An Arnold & Porter team, working with the ACLU, the National Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, and the Washington Lawyers' Committee, filed this past week an action for emergency injunctive relief and damages stemming from the confrontation and dispersal of peaceful protests around the White House, culminating in the events in Lafayette Park on 6/1/20.
• Our lawyers are representing individuals arrested in recent protests and also serving as legal observers in ongoing protests.

Housing-Related Matters

• Every day, Arnold & Porter attorneys throughout the country represent low-income tenants opposing eviction actions and seeking redress for unacceptable housing conditions.
• The firm represents approximately 150 low income senior citizens who lost their homes and personal property and suffered significant emotional distress when their public housing building on Capitol Hill burned down. We have filed litigation against the owners and managers of the building, as well as the city housing authority, and are currently in the discovery phase.

Criminal Defense

• We have an active program representing individual criminal defendants at both the trial and appellate level.
• Lawyers throughout the country seek the release and exoneration of wrongfully imprisoned individuals.
• Our lawyers litigate matters opposing the imposition of the death penalty.

Prisoners' Rights

• Firm lawyers throughout the country are litigating to ensure that prisoners are properly protected against COVID-19. This has resulted in a number of early releases of individuals at high-risk of contracting COVID, as well as in increased protections in jails and prisons.
• We represent an individual who has been held in solitary confinement for 14 years, exacerbating his severe mental illness. The team is advocating to have the client removed from solitary confinement.
• We represent numerous prisoners in lawsuits seeking damages for the violation of their rights by prison authorities.

Immigration

• We represent dozens of individuals throughout the country on immigration-related matters. This includes assisting with applications for asylum, litigating to challenge denials of asylum requests and to stop deportations, and other immigration matters.
• A large, multi-office team is representing dozens of families who were separated from their children at the border to recover damages. We recently defeated a motion to dismiss in the first of these cases to be filed in federal court.

Education

• Following a trial, we recently obtained a ruling that Delaware's system of property tax assessments is illegal and fails to properly fund public schools. The case is currently in the remedy phase.
• We represent individual students and their parents throughout the country in efforts to obtain appropriate individual education plans to address special needs.

Public Benefits

• The firm represents numerous individuals appealing the denial of social security and other disability benefits. More than 100 firm attorneys throughout the country are helping individuals apply for unemployment benefits and, where necessary, appeal the denial of benefits.

Economic Development

• Firm lawyers help promote community development and the expansion of a diverse business community by providing transactional counseling to small businesses in economically disadvantaged communities.