Pro Bono Practices

Pro Bono News

Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP views pro bono work as a central responsibility of the firm and our lawyers. We have a long and distinguished history of providing pro bono legal services to those who could not otherwise obtain legal representation and we expect each of our lawyers to work on pro bono matters throughout their careers at the firm.

Davis Polk makes every effort to provide a wide variety of pro bono opportunities so that our lawyers can pursue the kind of pro bono commitment they find most meaningful. The firm supports pro bono work through partner mentoring, training sessions, and devotion of resources. In addition to fulfilling our desire and obligation to aid those in need, we are also gratified by the benefit pro bono work provides as a vehicle for early client responsibility and training. Pro bono work is considered to be of equal stature to billable matters and our lawyers offer the same excellence to our pro bono clients as we do to our paying clients.

The firm also encourages lawyers to participate in other civic activities, including mentor programs, bar associations and service on the boards of directors of legal, charitable and civic organizations.

Work Highlights

DAVIS POLK SUCCEEDS IN VACATING CONVICTION AND SECURING NEW TRIAL FOR INMATE ON DEATH ROW

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In the spring of 2010, a unanimous panel of the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals vacated the capital murder conviction against Davis Polk’s pro bono client on death row in Tennessee and ordered a new trial. This is only the fourth time since 1977 that a Tennessee court has vacated a conviction and ordered a new trial in a capital murder case based on ineffective assistance of counsel.
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COUNSEL TO NEW YORK STATE JUDICIAL TASK FORCE

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Davis Polk serves as counsel to the New York State Justice Task Force, a permanent task force created by New York State Chief Judge Lippman to examine the causes of wrongful convictions and recommend reforms to prevent them in the future.
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NEARLY $1.8 MILLION CIVIL VERDICT SECURED FOR MAN WRONGFULLY CONVICTED

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Davis Polk represented a man in the appeal of his wrongful conviction of murder. Following a successful retrial, our client was released after spending five and a half years in prison for a crime he did not commit. In late 2009, we secured an award of nearly $1.8 million for our client’s lost wages, pain and suffering, loss of liberty and emotional distress. This was the third-highest amount ever awarded for wrongful conviction in New York State.
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WORKERS RIGHTS CASES INCLUDING A $4.6 MILLION JUDGMENT FOR RESTAURANT DELIVERY WORKERS

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In the last three years, Davis Polk has worked on nine workers’ rights cases, seven of which were on behalf of restaurant workers, one on behalf of fruit stand cashiers, and another on behalf of garment workers. In 2008, Davis Polk, in conjunction with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund won a judgment in excess of $4.6 million on behalf of 36 current and former employees of Saigon Grill, a popular Vietnamese restaurant.
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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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Work Highlights

DAVIS POLK SUCCEEDS IN VACATING CONVICTION AND SECURING NEW TRIAL FOR INMATE ON DEATH ROW

COUNSEL TO NEW YORK STATE JUDICIAL TASK FORCE

NEARLY $1.8 MILLION CIVIL VERDICT SECURED FOR MAN WRONGFULLY CONVICTED

WORKERS RIGHTS CASES INCLUDING A $4.6 MILLION JUDGMENT FOR RESTAURANT DELIVERY WORKERS

DAVIS POLK ADVISES ON SOUTH AFRICAN VOTING RIGHTS CASE