Describe your firm's philosophy on pro bono service.

At Fish, pro bono work is an integral part of our culture, and we strongly encourage all our attorneys to take on pro bono matters as a part of their professional lives. We back up this commitment by providing our attorneys with full hours credit for approved pro bono matters, and by assigning a principal-level attorney in each of our U.S. offices with the task of seeking out and publicizing local pro bono opportunities.

What are the two biggest cases your firm worked on in 2019? Tell us more about those cases and how you reached the outcome. 

I'm proud of our representation of plaintiff Jose Alfaro, a teen survivor of sex trafficking, in Alfaro v. Gandy (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas) that resulted in a $1.4 million civil award for Alfaro. We filed the lawsuit under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and dedicated nearly 200 pro bono hours to the case. We obtained summary judgment in March 2019, with compensatory and punitive damages awarded in April 2019. We also received and donated $191,374 in post-judgment attorney fees in 2019 in OCA-Greater Houston v. State of Texas (U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas/U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit), our pro bono victory safeguarding the voting rights of individuals with limited English proficiency—a win with enormous implications in the 2020 elections. We had successfully argued that a Texas Election Code provision preventing voters from using the interpreter of their choice during the voting process violated Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act.

What was the most satisfying aspect of that work? 

The most satisfying part was donating our $191,374 fee award in the Texas voting rights case to various legal aid organizations and to the University of Texas Law School to endow the Mallika Das Scholarship in Voting Rights, which provides financial aid to law students who have a demonstrated interest in voting rights. The plaintiff, Mallika Das, passed away during the lawsuit, but the scholarship is a fitting tribute to her courage and her life.

What other pro bono matters is the firm working on? 

Fish is responding to the needs of low-income people arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic by advocating for the homeless, staffing a remote asylum clinic, and assisting tenants with evictions that started during the pandemic.

Fish also represents Central American refugees fleeing persecution who were forcibly sent from the U.S. to Mexico to await their asylum hearings. The refugees are in very dangerous situations because of a policy that violates U.S. and international law.

Additionally, Fish just won the right for Minnesota voters with disabilities or language barriers to get assistance from the person of their choice at the polls.

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

Pro bono matters to me because everyone deserves equal access to justice, no matter the ability to pay for legal services. As a lawyer, I am proud that my pro bono contributions help to level the playing field between those with many resources and those who, increasingly, are struggling.

Responses submitted by Lawrence Kolodney, principal and pro bono program chair at Fish & Richardson.