In a new survey on pro bono work, the American Bar Association found 81 percent of lawyers at some point have done pro bono work—good job!—but that the majority have done so on a limited basis, putting in an average of 16.4 hours per matter. Those who committed to full representation logged an average of 45.7 hours—laudable, but still below the ABA's goal of 50 hours per lawyer per year.

But some lawyers and firms go way beyond 50 hours, tackling big-time litigation in the name of justice. Today's Lit Daily salutes a few of them, highlighting recent cases by lawyers from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner; Covington & Burling; Kirkland & Ellis; Morrison & Foerster and Holwell Shuster & Goldberg.

Bryan Cave Frees Man Wrongly Convicted of Murder

It's the kind of case that motivates people to go to law school: freeing a wrongly-accused man from a lifetime in prison.

That's what a team from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner did last week when the Missouri Supreme Court overturned the murder conviction of David Robinson and ordered his release from prison on the grounds he met the “gateway claim” of actual innocence.

Lawyers from Bryan Cave including St. Louis-based partner Charlie Weiss, counsel Steve Snodgrass and associate Jonathan Potts, along with former associate Jim Wyrsch, began working on the case in 2009.

Robinson was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the August 2000 killing of Sheila Box in Sikeston, Missouri. But there was no physical evidence, and the two witnesses who placed him at the scene of the crime later recanted their testimony.

Another man, Romanze Mosby, confessed to the killing, and an eyewitness identified him as the actual murderer. Mosby committed suicide after making a final confession.

In March, a special master appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court found “clear and convincing evidence” of Robinson's innocence and concluded that Mosby was responsible for Box's death.

“David has spent the past 17 years trapped inside a prison cell for a crime he did not commit,” Potts said. “The Missouri Supreme Court's ruling has finally put an end to David's tragic ordeal, which no person should ever endure.”

Kirkland Hits Back on Behalf of Student Targeted by Hate Crime

Kirkland & Ellis lawyers joined with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the Washington Lawyers' Committee to file suit on behalf of a student at American University who was targeted by a hate crime.

The day after Taylor Dumpson was inaugurated as the first female African American student government president at AU last year, a masked man hung bananas inscribed with racial slurs from nooses around campus.

“After the media reported on the hate crime, a known neo-Nazi, Defendant Andrew Anglin, posted an article about Ms. Dumpson and the campus hate crime on his website, the Daily Stormer,” the complaint filed last week in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia states. “Defendant Anglin targeted Ms. Dumpson using racist language, and directed his followers to troll storm' Ms. Dumpson by harassing and cyberbullying her via social media.”

Dumpson is suing Anglin and his company, as well as two men who allegedly sent her “hateful, intimidating, and harassing messages.”

The suit claims violations of District of Columbia Human Rights Act of 1977, the Bias-Related Crime Act of 1989 and District of Columbia tort law.

Kirkland partners Emily Hughes and Ragan Naresh and associate Tracie Bryant are working on the case.

Covington Takes on For-Profit Prison with Horrific Conditions

Mentally ill prisoners in filthy cells without lights or working toilets. Rats scampering over their beds. Months or even years in solitary confinement. Inadequate food. Stabbings. Rapes. Medical issues including gangrene ignored and untreated.

The alleged conditions at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility, a privately run prison in Meridian, Mississippi, are horrifying.

A pro bono team from Covington & Burling led by partner Gretchen Hoff Varner teamed up with the ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center and prisoners' rights litigator Elizabeth Alexander to file a class action in the Southern District of Mississippi on behalf of the facility's prisoners, 80 percent of whom are mentally ill.

They allege that the Mississippi Department of Corrections has inflicted preventable suffering on thousands of inmates in violation of the Constitution's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

“Prisoners suffer irreparable harm that can make it even more difficult to re-enter society, in addition to worsened medical conditions that could have been treated, mental illnesses that have grown far worse, and psychological damage from being assaulted,” said Covington associate Erin Monju.

After a five-week bench trial that ended last month, the case is now pending before U.S. District Judge William H. Barbour, Jr.

MoFo Sticks Up for Georgia Voters

A Morrison & Foerster pro bono team led by partners John Carlin and David Cross is representing a group of Georgia voters in a federal lawsuit against Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp.

Georgia is one of just five states to use an all-electronic voting machine system. Such systems are especially vulnerable to election interference through cyberattack, since there's no paper trail or other way to audit the votes cast.

“Despite the inclination to put great faith in the wonders of technology, it is decidedly not the answer when it comes to voting systems,” states the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

“The central server used both to store voters' personal identifying data and to program every electronic voting machine in Georgia was readily accessible in the many months (and possibly years) leading up to the 2016 Presidential election, and subsequent 2017 elections—and accessible not merely to cybersecurity experts, but to anyone with a modicum of familiarity with computer use.”

The plaintiffs want the court to ensure the rights of Georgia voters are protected from future harm.

Holwell Shuster Seeks Answers for Pakistani Doctor on No-Fly List

Without warning or reason, prominent Pakistani doctor Khushnood Ali Baz in 2016 found himself on the No-Fly List, prohibited from entering the United States.

Considering he owns a home in Ohio, his son is a U.S. citizen, and he travels to the United States frequently for professional conferences, it's an extreme disruption.

Lawyers from elite litigation boutique Holwell Shuster & Goldberg, which was founded in 2012 by a former Manhattan federal judge and two top lawyers from White & Case, including its global head of commercial litigation, sued the government on his behalf. Teaming up with Muslim Advocates and Ellahie & Farooqui, the lawyers seek to uncover why Baz is on the No-Fly List and ultimately clear his name.

The complaint names Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Terrorist Screening Center, the Transportation Security Administration and the heads of those agencies.

“As the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals observed in a similar No-Fly List case, a mistaken No-Fly List designation should not take several years and a lawsuit in federal court to correct,” said Holwell Shuster associate Andrei Vrabie. “We are hopeful that the government will examine Dr. Baz's case in good faith, correct this erroneous designation, and implement an adequate redress procedure for individuals with significant voluntary connections to the United States, such as Dr. Baz.”

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