Matthew Price, with Jenner & Block. April 12, 2019..

Describe your firm's philosophy on pro bono service.

Our firm views pro bono work as central to our identities as lawyers. Not only does the firm view pro bono work as a core professional responsibility, but our attorneys are passionate about serving our communities. We afford our attorneys the freedom to pursue the areas of pro bono representation that most interest and inspire them, and consequently the firm is engaged in a wide array of subject matters.

Of the big cases your firm recently worked on, in People v. Pursley you represented a man wrongly convicted of murder who spent 23 years in prison—as you noted, the first case in the country to allow a prisoner new ballistics testing under a Post-Conviction Testing Act. Tell us more about the case and how you reached the outcome.

We got involved in 2008 after the trial court rejected a pro se motion to allow ballistics testing. In 2011, the appellate court granted our request to retest the ballistics evidence, and we submitted the evidence to two preeminent, independent ballistics specialists who examined it using new technology. They concluded that the bullets and cartridge cases found at the crime scene did not match Pursley's firearm. After an evidentiary hearing in 2016, an Illinois circuit judge vacated Pursley's conviction and awarded a new trial. After a six-day retrial in January 2019, the judge acquitted Pursley, commenting that the defense's ballistics experts demonstrated that the cartridge cases were not fired from the gun attributed to Pursley.

What was the most satisfying aspect of that key case?

The case required a significant amount of work by a large team over more than a decade, including two appeals, two evidentiary hearings, work with experts, a revised post-conviction petition and other proceedings. The client insisted from the beginning that the ballistics evidence would establish his innocence, and it was gratifying to assist him in making that prediction a reality.

Discuss other key pro bono matters recently completed by the firm.

Working as co-counsel with Harvard Law School's Project on Predatory Student Lending, the firm represented a class of ITT Technical Institute students who filed claims against ITT in bankruptcy court in 2017. In November 2018, a federal bankruptcy judge approved a settlement in which nearly $600 million in student debt would be wiped out. The settlement affected 750,000 students, and the agreement also returned $3 million to students who made loan payments to the school after it closed. In March 2019, the firm won significant victories when a federal judge invalidated state plans approved by the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services requiring Medicaid recipients in Kentucky and Arkansas to work or otherwise lose their Medicaid benefits.

Why does your pro bono work matter to you as a lawyer?

Through our pro bono program, on matters large and small, we are able to provide critical legal services to those most in need and give an important voice to countless clients. It's extremely rewarding to be able to use our skills to make a meaningful difference in a person's life and the greater community.

Responses submitted by Matthew Price and Andrew Vail, co-chairs of Jenner & Block's pro bono practice.