Cleary Bankruptcy Pro Takes On Gay 'Conversion Therapy'
After Friday's victory for same-sex marriage, the notion that gays and lesbians need to be "cured" might seem almost quaint. Not so for Jim Bromley's pro bono clients, who won a resounding jury verdict this week against a group that promised to purge their homosexuality.
June 26, 2015 at 01:01 PM
5 minute read
After Friday's historic U.S. Supreme Court victory for same-sex marriage, the notion that gays and lesbians need to be “cured” might seem like a quaint anachronism. Not so for five plaintiffs in New Jersey, who spent the last three weeks in trial against a nonprofit that took their money with the promise of purging their homosexuality.
On Thursday a state court jury in Jersey City resoundingly sided with the plaintiffs, who had allegedly endured treatments such as violent role-play and being forced to undress in front of counselors. The jury found that Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH) had violated state consumer fraud and business practices laws and ordered the group to pay $72,400 in damages. (Our affiliate the New Jersey Law Journal has a full report on the verdict.)
Representing the plaintiffs was James Bromley of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, who spearheaded the case along with the Southern Poverty Law Center's David Dinielli and Bruce Greenberg, a partner at Lite DePalma Greenberg. For Bromley, it was a major departure from his usual practice. As a leader of Cleary's global restructuring and insolvency group, Bromley is best known for counseling big-money debtors and creditors, not wooing jurors. The American Lawyer named him a Dealmaker of the Year in 2010 for his work on the mammoth Nortel Networks bankruptcy.
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