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Pro Bono Program
General Pro Bono
Service Focus
Downey Brand looks to the ABA
Model Rule 6.1 guidelines that encourage attorneys to perform at least
50 hours annually of (a) free or substantially reduced-rate legal work
for nonprofit organizations or persons of limited means, or (b) volunteer
work for organizations improving the legal system or access to justice.
We see pro bono work as a way to serve the community while also providing
our attorneys and staff with training opportunities.
Pro Bono Administration
For more information or questions
regarding our pro bono program, please contact pro bono coordinator
Jeff Galvin at jgalvin@downeybrand.com.
Pro Bono Programs
and Activities
Downey Brand attorneys are involved
in the following pro bono programs and activities:
- We participate in the 9th Circuit lawyer referral panel (which focuses
on immigration, prisoner rights and other civil rights cases).
- We are part of the federal Eastern District Court of California
Pro Bono Project panel (which focuses primarily on prisoner rights
cases).
- Our lawyers staff a simple wills clinic for HIV-positive individuals.
This clinic is sponsored by the Voluntary Legal Services Program (VLSP)
and a social services nonprofit. VLSP is a program of the Sacramento
County Bar and Legal Services of Northern California (LSNC). (Jack
Downey, one of our early partners, was a co-founder of LSNC approximately
50 years ago.) We expect the firm's VLSP clinic work to expand in
2009.
- Our litigators become involved in various pro bono cases. For example,
two of our litigators recently settled a lease dispute for a county
food bank with premises habitability problems. And we have represented
indigent individuals in debt collection actions, unlawful detainer
actions, and quiet title actions.
- Our transactional lawyers advise non-profit organizations. For example,
we have formed organizations and helped them obtain tax-exempt status,
and we have advised nonprofits regarding employment issues and real
estate transactions.
- Many of the firm's lawyers are actively involved with local and
California bar sections that focus on improving the legal system.
The firm does not consider general volunteer activities (such as board
of director membership or bar activities) as pro bono legal work;
rather, qualifying work must fall within the parameters set forth
above.
Decided Cases
of Public Record
Most of our pro bono work involves
confidential matters that cannot be described here, but two recent cases
help illustrate our pro bono efforts.
- In Dyer v. California
Interscholastic Federation, et al, Alameda County Superior Court
Case No. RG08421517, the Superior Court for the County of Alameda
found that the California Interscholastic Federation's (“CIF”) bylaws
violate the California Constitution. The CIF had ruled that a student
athlete at Placer High School in Auburn, California, was ineligible
at the time he played in five varsity football games because he did
not apply for a hardship waiver. The CIF declared that the school
forfeited all of the five games. He filed an appeal with the CIF on
the ground that because he is a foster child, AB 490 entitles him
(and all other foster children) to be immediately eligible to participate
in varsity sports. Therefore, no hardship waiver was required or could
have been required. The CIF denied his appeal. The student filed a
writ of mandate. The Superior Court vacated the CIF's denial of the
appeal and ordered the CIF to reinstate the forfeited games (the team
had won 3 of the 5 forfeited games, which qualified the team for a
seat in the playoffs). On a pro bono basis, Downey Brand Partner Art
Woodward represented the petitioner before the CIF appeals panel and
coordinated the transition of the case to the National Center for
Youth Law, which filed the petition with Art's assistance. The case
received both regional news coverage and national coverage. The decision,
which eliminated a barrier foster children faced in athletic program
participation, impacts thousands of foster children in California.
- In Thomas v. Carrasco, et. al, No. 06-1549 (9
th Cir. 2008), the district court dismissed prisoner Josh Thomas's
complaint for invasion of privacy. Mr. Thomas alleged that the
defendants' government attorneys violated his right to privacy by
obtaining his complete and unredacted medical file without notice
or using proper discovery channels. The district court dismissed his
complaint without leave to amend on the grounds that he should have
sought relief in the underlying lawsuit. He appealed his dismissal,
and the Ninth Circuit determined that he presented legal issues sufficiently
complicated to warrant legal assistance. Downey Brand, as a member
of a Ninth Circuit pro bono legal panel, represented Mr. Thomas on
appeal. Associate Annie Amaral wrote his brief and then argued the
privacy, procedural, and immunity issues before a three-member panel
in San Francisco. The panel issued a unanimous decision reversing
the district court's dismissal.
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