Pro Bono Partnership Underscores Need for Civil Legal Aid
October 27, 2021
Laura Klein (left), pro bono program manager at the U.S. Department of Justice, with U.S. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta.
On October 26 the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center hosted 120 attendees at its virtual 2021 Pro Bono Partnership Luncheon, featuring U.S. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta as one of its speakers.
Darryl Maxwell, acting executive director of the Pro Bono Center, called for a redoubled commitment to ensuring equal access to the District’s courts, saying: “Now, more than ever, lawyers need to step up and support our neighbors as we recover from the pandemic as a community.”
A network of more than 100 D.C. law firms and federal agencies committed to providing free legal services and facilitating pro bono referrals, the Pro Bono Partnership welcomed its newest member, the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.
In a conversation with Laura Klein, pro bono program manager at the U.S. Department of Justice and chair of the Federal Government Pro Bono Program, Gupta recounted a situation from earlier in her career in which marshalling the efforts of the pro bono community was instrumental in safeguarding justice and the legitimacy of our legal institutions.
While employed in 2001 by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in New York, Gupta viewed a documentary on a 1999 drug sting in the small Texas Panhandle town of Tulia. The disproportionately Black defendants were convicted and given draconian sentences, in one case 434 years in prison. Gupta traveled to Tulia to investigate and, as a young attorney, quickly found herself in over her head.
“It was really important that I was able to build a whole team out with lawyers from firms from New York, Washington, Texas, and California,” Gupta said. The team she assembled uncovered proof of evidence fabrication and false testimony by the sheriff spearheading the sting. “In the span of two years, we were able — after a pretty significant set of investigations, a hearing in court over the course of two weeks, and many, many filings — to win exonerations from then-governor Rick Perry. And then we had a civil settlement to try to give some compensation to those who were wrongly accused.”
This experience cemented Gupta’s appreciation for collaborative pro bono efforts. “My experience as a young lawyer was immediately also an experience building out a team of pro bono lawyers without [whom] we wouldn’t have been able to get those exonerations,” she said.
Asked by Klein how she went about assembling her team, Gupta said that she used New York’s pro bono networks and identified firms and pro bono practice managers at firms to approach for assistance. “It was a whole hodgepodge of . . . ways to try to get people involved,” she said. “I will say, though, that once I started telling the stories of family members that I met in this town, it was quite incredible how quickly people were motivated and eager to help out.”
Gupta went on to say that racial and poverty gaps continue to result in disparate outcomes and experiences for litigants. The pandemic has heightened preexisting gaps, and pro bono services continue to perform a vital function in attempting to narrow them. “This is work that remains ongoing for our legal community,” she said.
Klein and Gupta discussed the anticipated wave of evictions and the importance of lawyers assisting both landlords and tenants in resolving disputes while minimizing downstream impacts of eviction. The government has discussed preserving housing and considering options to extend tenant protections, Gupta said. In August, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland called on the legal community to provide help response to the crisis. “This really is an all-hands-on-deck effort,” she said.
The luncheon also featured remarks by D.C. Bar President Chad Sarchio, who echoed the other speakers’ calls for increased pro bono help to assist D.C. residents facing eviction while the country is still battling a pandemic. “We see a dire need for civil legal services within the District,” Sarchio said. “An estimated 14,000 District residents face eviction from their homes. I cannot overstate how traumatic eviction, or even the threat of eviction, can be for families and individuals.”
Legal assistance for D.C.’s most vulnerable residents doesn’t stop at eviction defense, Sarchio went on to say, pointing out the large number of individuals facing family law, disability, and small business issues that will require legal assistance in the coming year.
“Remember, when you support one District resident through pro bono legal services, you build faith and confidence in our entire legal system,” Sarchio said. “We can, and we must, strive to ensure that every person, regardless of their ability to pay for a lawyer, enjoys full access to our legal system. As attorneys we each play a role in aspiring to reach our country’s highest ideals of justice, compassion, and equal treatment under the law.”
View the video of the luncheon here.
