We provide legal services to those in need. This simple, profound commitment is a hallmark of our firm. We encourage all of our lawyers to pursue the kind of pro bono work they find rewarding—and to render the same creative excellence our paying clients receive.

We cooperate with established pro bono service providers and clearinghouses, including local courts, so that our efforts are broadly channeled and likely to benefit either deserving individuals or recognized groups. Pro bono is also a vehicle for early client responsibility and training. We provide in-house support and training for lawyers handling individual matters, and encourage our people to present matters to our Pro Bono Committee for consideration.

In addition, many of our lawyers volunteer their time and talents to community organizations of all types—from bar associations to charitable, educational, religious and legal organizations.

Work Highlights

Davis Polk Advises on South African Voting Rights Case
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A team from Davis Polk initiated and led a successful constitutional challenge to South Africa’s voting law, which failed to provide for absentee voting by South African citizens residing abroad. The challenge, based on the theory that voting is a fundamental constitutional right that should be extended to expatriates, was brought on behalf of 12 South African citizens residing abroad who were unable to vote in South Africa’s elections on April 22, 2009. Under the electoral law prior to the Constitutional Court’s ruling, only limited classes of citizens who were abroad on election day could vote. This law effectively disenfranchised all South African citizens working in foreign countries.
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Davis Polk Prepares Amicus Brief in Judicial Recusal Case
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Davis Polk prepared and filed, on a pro bono basis, an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the Committee for Economic Development, a non-partisan organization of business leaders, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to grant certiorari in Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Company to decide whether a West Virginia justice's failure to recuse himself from a case violated the due process rights of one of the litigants. On November 14, 2008, the Court granted the petition. The case involved a West Virginia Supreme Court justice who refused to recuse himself from an appeal of a $50 million verdict against Massey Coal Company, even though Massey’s CEO spent $3 million supporting the justice's election. Davis Polk anticipates continuing its representation at the merits stage.
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Davis Polk Prepares Amicus Brief in Controlled Substances Act Case
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In September 2008, Davis Polk prepared and filed, on a pro bono basis, an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the New York University Law School Center on the Administration of Criminal Law, urging the Court to grant certiorari. On November 14, 2008, the Court granted the petition. The petitioner in Abuelhawa v. United States had been convicted of a felony under the “communication facility” provision of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 for using his cell phone to purchase drugs for personal use. The Fourth Circuit affirmed the petitioner’s conviction, and in its amicus brief, Davis Polk argued that the Fourth Circuit’s reading of the statute was contrary to both legislative intent and statutory history.
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Davis Polk Wins $4.6 Million Judgment for Delivery Workers at Popular Restaurant
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Davis Polk & Wardwell, in conjunction with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), won a judgment in excess of $4.6 million on behalf of 36 current and former employees of Saigon Grill, a popular Vietnamese restaurant. The judgment, which follows a five-day bench trial in June in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, holds Saigon Grill and its owners and managers responsible for failing to pay its delivery workers in compliance with federal and state labor laws over the last decade.
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