How about BigLaw firms giving more attention to incercarated veterans with their new pro bono commitments?
In a couple of posts last month (linked below), I highlighted that the deals Prez Trump cut with multiple BigLaw firms provided for hundreds of million of dollars in pro bono legal services to be devoted, at least in part, to “ensuring fairness in our Justice System.” These deals also provided for servives to be devoted to “assisting veterans,” and this recent New York Times article highlights how “veterans, in particular, are seeking free legal work from firms that cut deals with the White House like Skadden, Kirkland & Ellis and Paul Weiss.” Here are some excerpts:
At Paul Weiss, which was the first major firm to reach a deal with Mr. Trump, many of the requests have come from veterans, one of the groups that the president suggested the firms could help….
Just two months after striking the deals with Mr. Trump, law firms are in uncharted territory. They are trying to make good on their pro bono commitments to Mr. Trump while not giving up their autonomy to choose cases or alienating their staff, who want to work on legal issues that broadly serve the public’s interest.
But the firms are unsure about how to satisfy the terms of their pro bono commitments, or how to keep track of the work that might qualify as part of those commitments, according to three people briefed on the matter….
[Steven] Banks, who once ran the Legal Aid Society in New York, said he understood how some veterans might have gotten the wrong impression that Mr. Trump’s deals with law firms guaranteed them the right to free legal help from one of these big firms.
Even before the deals were announced, most big law firms routinely did work on veterans issues, such as working with groups that advocate for Gold Star families — survivors of service members who died on active duty. But simply being a veteran is not enough to qualify for free help, since pro bono resources typically go to those who have limited incomes or who have an issue that involves the government threatening someone’s rights or civil liberties, Mr. Banks said. “Pro bono is about representing the less powerful against the more powerful,” he said.
Against this backbrop, I urge the BigLaw firms seeking to make good on their pro bono commitments to focus on incarcerated verterans as potential clients. The Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) recently put together a Veterans Justice Commission which has helped to spotlight the important work needing to be done in this space to better serve the men and women who have served our nation. This notable CCJ report flagged how second-look sentencing and clemency efforts have too often looked past veteran populations and issues:
Within [a modern] push for second looks, little has been done to consider opportunities for incarcerated veterans to request resentencing based on facts related to their military service. California is an exception. In 2022, the legislature passed a penal code amendment that allows veterans suffering from one or more specified service-related conditions to seek resentencing….
Beyond resentencing, the consideration of military service might also be extended to the parole, pardon, and clemency processes, where it is often overlooked. By not fully and formally considering military service as part of release decisions, crucial context may be missed, potentially denying veterans opportunities for parole, pardon, or clemency.
BigLaw firms could get a “two-fer” by devoting pro bono hours and resources to identifying federal and state prisoners with military service who may be serving unnecessarily long prison terms and may be eligible for some sort of resentencing or clemency process. Helping this population could and would involve both “assisting veterans,” and “ensuring fairness in our Justice System.” There are likely well over 100,000 veterans serving prison terms in federal and state facilities after they have served our country. It would be only fitting if some elite law firms would now seek to serve them.
Prior related posts: