Fall 2017

Happy Pro Bono Week!

At Gibson Dunn, we are dedicated to the idea that the most vulnerable in our society receive legal representation in times of need. Whether protecting constitutional rights, working on behalf of the LGBTQ community, spearheading anti-human trafficking efforts, battling slumlords, fighting on behalf of domestic violence victims, advocating on behalf of veterans, or engaging in extensive efforts on behalf of the immigrant community, in 2017 our lawyers have provided access to justice for those who could not otherwise afford it.  

During this last week alone, lawyers across our firm participated in 6 clinics, serving over 50 pro bono clients.  Reflecting the diversity of our overall program,  this work was done on behalf of veterans, domestic violence victims, and immigrants, among others.  We also were proud to partner this week with many of our clients, including attorneys from Morgan Stanley, Uber, and Wells Fargo.  And, of course, this was on top of all the impressive pro bono work already underway around the firm.

We want to thank each of you who has dedicated time to a pro bono matter over the course of this past year. Your contribution – no matter how big or small – is very much appreciated!

Thank you and keep up the good work!

Best Wishes,
Scott Edelman and Katie Marquart

Gibson Dunn Files Suit on Behalf of 6 Dreamers Challenging the Unlawful Termination DACA

On September 18, 2017, Gibson Dunn filed a complaint on behalf of six young women and men challenging the termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program ("DACA"). Under DACA, individuals who were brought to the United States as children and meet specific criteria, and who are found to pose no threat to public safety or national security, are granted deferred action and work authorization for a two-year period, subject to renewal. These young people are commonly referred to as "Dreamers" in recognition of the fact that they have long called this country home and aspire to be part of the American Dream.

Brought to this country as young children and raised in families that often struggled with poverty and homelessness, the plaintiffs in this case are also alike in that each has committed to helping others, choosing to direct their time, energy, and considerable talents toward defending, healing, educating, and uplifting individuals and communities that are too often ignored. While each of these plaintiffs is remarkable in their own right, their stories of success—and their commitment to serving others—are common among the nearly 800,000 young Dreamers who have come to rely on DACA.

Through this suit, a Gibson Dunn team led by Ted Boutrous, Ethan Dettmer, Stuart Delery, Nat Bach, Soolean Choy, Douglas Drier, Pablo Fekete, Kirsten Galler, Jesse Gabriel, Aidan Grano, Monica Haymond, Kelsey Helland, Shailey Jain, Eaton Liu, Jillian London, Donata Marcantonio, Katie Marquart, Haley Morrison, Teddy O'Reilly, David Schnitzer, Jon Soleimani, Arevik Stepanyan, Laura Sucheski, Andrew Wilhelm, and Emily Yezerski hopes to vindicate these Dreamers' rights.

Gibson Dunn Secures Victory on Appeal for City of Dallas in Litigation Over Klyde Warren Park

On August 22, 2017, Gibson Dunn obtained an appellate victory on behalf of the City of Dallas and two Dallas police officers in litigation related to the enforcement of permit requirements in Klyde Warren Park, a 5.2-acre urban linkage park that connects downtown and uptown Dallas. In 2016, Plaintiff Ricky Moore, a visitor to Klyde Warren Park, filed suit against the City of Dallas and two Dallas police officers in the Northern District of Texas, alleging that the City violated his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights because the Park declined to issue a permit that would allow him to erect a 6.5-foot-tall sketch board on a pedestrian walkway in the Park. The district court denied Mr. Moore's motion for preliminary injunction, and Plaintiff appealed to the Fifth Circuit. On July 7, 2017, Rebekah Ricketts presented oral argument to a panel of Judges Higginbotham, Smith, and Haynes. On August 22, 2017, the panel affirmed the district court's denial of Plaintiff's motion for preliminary injunction in a unanimous, per curiam opinion. Specifically, the court held that the Park's permitting requirement for structures is narrowly tailored, leaves open ample alternative channels of communication, is not subject to the unbridled discretion doctrine, and is not unconstitutionally vague. It also ruled that Plaintiff's challenge to the Park's permitting requirement for public events is moot.

Rob Walters, Rebekah Ricketts (argued), and Will Thompson represented the City of Dallas before the Fifth Circuit, with substantial assistance from Bennett Rawicki, Cristina Squiers, and Pooja Patel.

Gibson Dunn Aids in Launching Program to Provide Housing for Homeless Individuals in Los Angeles

In early October 2017, Los Angeles County in conjunction with the Corporation for Supportive Housing ("CSH") and the National Council on Crime & Delinquency ("NCCD") launched the Just in Reach Pay for Success program to provide permanent supportive housing to over 300 chronically homeless individuals in the Los Angeles area. A team of Gibson Dunn attorneys served as counsel to CSH and NCCD. The program, which will take place over the next five years, aims to house individuals with histories of incarceration and homelessness, many of whom also face substance abuse and/or mental health issues. The innovative "pay for success" model, which leverages funding from private investors to build public needs projects, has been employed in a few other areas thus far, but never before in Los Angeles County. The program is made possible by a combined investment of $10 million dollars from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and UnitedHealthcare.

The Gibson Dunn team was comprised of Christopher D. Dillon, Kari Krusmark and Zoe Carpou.

Gibson Dunn Wins Appellate Victory on Behalf of Pro Bono Client

A team of Gibson Dunn attorneys in the Denver office recently prevailed in the Colorado Court of Appeals on behalf of a pro bono client, who is incarcerated in the Colorado State Penitentiary, seeking to serve the remainder of his sentence in his home country of Canada.  After nearly two decades of being denied a meaningful review of his transfer application, Mr. Robert Gandy filed a complaint pro se against the Colorado Department of Corrections challenging both the Department's denial of his transfer application and the Department's interpretation of its own regulations governing prisoner transfers.  After the District Court granted the Department's motion to dismiss, Gibson Dunn attorneys accepted representation of Mr. Gandy through the Colorado Bar Association's Appellate Pro Bono Program.

Associates Reid Rector, Tim Zimmerman, Jacob Rierson, and Eva Michaels, supervised by partner John Partridge convinced the three-judge panel that the Department of Corrections had overstepped its authority by denying Mr. Gandy's transfer application.  On August 10, 2017, the Court of Appeals ordered the Department to strictly adhere to the process delineated in its regulations whenever it received a transfer application.  In the weeks since, the Department has already modified its internal processes and documentation to comply with the Court's order.  

Gibson Dunn Secures Landmark Victory in First Amendment Case  

On September 28, 2017, the Ninth Court of Appeals, based in Beaumont, Texas, issued a unanimous ruling defeating a Texas school district and vindicating the First Amendment rights of free speech and religious expression of a group of high school cheerleaders represented by Gibson Dunn.  Last week's ruling is a dramatic reversal of fortune for the cheerleaders.  The same court of appeals had previously rejected the cheerleaders' constitutional claims on mootness grounds on May 8, 2014, but Gibson Dunn secured a unanimous reversal of the mootness ruling from the Texas Supreme Court on January 29, 2016, and has now achieved a constitutional victory on the merits for the cheerleaders.

For decades, the Kountze school district has allowed cheerleaders to prepare banners containing messages of their own choosing to cheer on the school's football team.  Recently, some of the cheerleaders chose to include religious messages on their banners.  In response, the school district declared that the cheerleaders' banners were actually government speech, and accordingly banned any religious message from appearing on a banner.  The cheerleaders sued, arguing that the banners were their own private or school-sponsored speech, not the government speech of the school, and thus the ban on religious messages violated their First Amendment rights.  The trial court ruled in favor of the cheerleaders.  But on appeal, the school district attempted to evade judicial review of the First Amendment claims by claiming that the case was now moot.  The school district theorized that the case was moot because the district was currently allowing religious messages on the banners—even though the district continues to view the banners as government speech and believes it retains the ability to prohibit religious messages if it so desired.  The Texas Ninth Court of Appeals agreed with the school district on May 8, 2014.  But the Texas Supreme Court reversed and remanded the case back to the Ninth Court of Appeals. 

On Thursday, the Ninth Court of Appeals ruled that the banners were indeed the private speech of the cheerleaders, and not school-sponsored or government speech, and that the school district had violated the First Amendment rights of the cheerleaders by forbidding them from engaging in religious speech for a period of time, before later dropping their objections.  The cheerleaders were represented on appeal by Jim Ho, Brad Hubbard, and former associates Prerak Shah and Mithun Mansinghani.

Gibson Dunn Helps Launch Bet Tzedek's Inaugural Small Business Legal Clinic On October 6th, Gibson Dunn helped launch Bet Tzedek's Small Business Legal Academy. Over 40 individuals attended the Academy to learn about various issues that face low-income, small business owners. Among the presentations given was one by Alex Sigoloff. Shauna Bendinelli, Dave Regan, Dave Koch-Weser, Chloe Clifford, Julie Soic, and Sheila Ongwae also participated at the event, including in one-on-one meetings with business owners.

Gibson Dunn Successfully Represents Veteran before U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims

Before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, Gibson Dunn successfully represented a veteran in his appeal of a decision that denied his claim for increased benefits for his back disability.  In this case, the veteran had been pursuing his benefit claim for his degenerative back disability for 23 years.  Gibson Dunn crafted an appellate position through identifying numerous legal errors in the Board's decision in mediation, the briefing papers, and in settlement negotiations with the attorney for Department of Veterans Affairs.  Specifically, the Board applied the wrong criteria for evaluating the back disability, failed to provide for and rely on adequate medical examinations that addressed flare-ups and repetitive use of the veteran's back, improperly substituted its own medical judgment for that of a qualified physician, and ignored prior decisions of the appellate court regarding that claim.  After reviewing the merits briefing, the Department of Veterans Affairs attorney conceded that the Board had erred in its decision and agreed to a joint motion to remand to apply the proper standards. 

Blair Silver represented the veteran in the appeal, wrote the briefing, led the mediation, and negotiated the ultimate remand with opposing counsel. Brian Buroker supervised the matter.

Gibson Dunn Advocates for Inclusive Education in Germany 

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities emphasizes that public education should encourage the full "human potential and sense of dignity and self-worth" of all people by supporting the "development by persons with disabilities of their personality, talents and creativity, as well as their mental and physical abilities, to their fullest potential." Lawyers from the Frankfurt office are working with the nonprofit disability rights organization Gemeinsam leben-gemeinsam lernen (in English, "Living Together, Learning Together") to bring state regulations in line with German constitutional law and international requirements for inclusive education for children with disabilities. Together with the client, the team drafted a detailed legislative bill to demonstrate the requirements for a truly inclusive education system in the German state of Thuringia.

Gibson Dunn and FitBit Provide Pro Bono Legal Advice to Veterans On October 4, 2017, Gibson Dunn partnered with FitBit to head to Ukiah, California to provide pro bono legal advice to local veterans. In one day, attorneys from Gibson Dunn and FitBit served 21 individuals. Our attorneys received rewarding and heartwarming feedback such as, "I felt like this was an amazing gift that was given to us today by your very capable legal team. Thank you for your help and professional guidance."

Victory for Los Angeles-Based Nonprofit

On August 3, 2017, Gibson Dunn secured a $17.75 million settlement on behalf of client Bright Star Schools, a California non-profit that runs several charter schools in the greater Los Angeles area.  The settlement represented a compromise between Bright Star and Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) on the amount of goodwill damages that would result from LAWA needing Bright Star to vacate leased property near LAX where Bright Star operates a middle school and high school.  The situation was particularly difficult because Bright Star currently occupies its campus under a lease from Los Angeles Unified School District, and the lease expressly provided that LAUSD would receive any condemnation proceeds, other than goodwill. The settlement enables Bright Star to relocate its middle school and high school into two new facilities, which will allow Bright Star to continue serving under-resourced youth in the West Adams community.  Gibson Dunn will now assist the school with the entitlements and development of the site for the high school on property owned by Los Angeles County.

Los Angeles associate Nate Goldstein negotiated the agreement with LAWA, and handled the airport commission approval process and is leading the entitlement effort with the County, with help from associate Ben Saltsman.  Nate and associate Sheila Ongwae both worked on the condemnation and goodwill damages research with supervision and assistance provided by partners Amy Forbes and Doug Champion. 

Gibson Dunn Races to the Top for Local Pro Bono Partner Her Justice

In recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness month, Gibson Dunn organized a team to climb up 34 flights of stairs in The Helmsley Building to raise money and support for local legal aid nonprofit, Her Justice. Her Justice is provides free legal advice and support to survivors of domestic violence for women and children throughout the New York community. Partner James Hallowell, associates Marc Epstein, Matthew Greenfield, Phil Shapiro, Ryan Levan, and pro bono coordinator Faith Masterson collectively raised $5,000 dollars and made it to the top in under 8 minutes.

Pro Bono Week 2017: Events and Accomplishments

Gibson Dunn Wins Victory for Young Boy from Honduras

Gibson Dunn Wins Victory for Young Girl from El Salvador

Gibson Dunn Wins Victory for Domestic Violence Survivor

Gibson Dunn Secures Dismissal of Eviction Lawsuit Against Pro Bono Elderly Clients Following Bench Trial 

Gibson Dunn Represents German Start-Up