2008 Volume 1. for the public good. The publication highlighting. select pro bono work of. Kirkpatrick & Lockhart. Preston Gates Ellis LLP.

Transcription

1 2008 Volume 1 for the public good The publication highlighting select pro bono work of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP.

2 Table of Contents Pro Bono Beyond Borders... 3 International Focus World Justice Project Works to Advance the Rule of Law... 4 PAWS, Water Advocates Take Action for Sustainable Sanitation Worldwide... 6 Immigration Immigrants Seek Safe Haven Family Law Pro Bono Partnership Aims to Secure International Child Custody Rights Immigrant Wins New Hearing in Domestic Violence Appeal Motion for Revision Squad Wins Protection Order Criminal Justice and Civil Rights Handicapped Death Row Inmate Fights for Life Prisoner Wins Civil Rights Appeal Government Witness Gains Protection Lawyers Lend District Attorney s Office a Helping Hand Pro Bono Highlights Around the Firm Northern Ireland Peace-Building Accomplishments Benefit from Firm Work Mercy Corps Fights Worldwide Vetting System St. Giles Trust Champions Smooth Transition for Ex-Convicts Merger Creates Girl Scouts of Western Washington Legal Services for Entrepreneurs Promotes Economic Justice San Francisco Program Supports HIV-Positive Patients Park Preserve Challenges FAA Decision Associate Transforms Personal Hardship into Pro Bono Legal Advocacy Club Strives to Save Historic Clay Tennis Courts Awards Star Volunteer Award Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program Silver Awards National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Award of Merit John Carroll Society Pro Bono Legal Services Award... 31

3 Pro Bono Beyond Borders By Peter Kalis, Chairman and Global Managing Partner The past year has been marked by significant growth for K&L Gates, in size, capabilities, resources and geographic reach. As our firm expands its global presence, the breadth of its pro bono activities expands as well. However, the essence of and commitment to our pro bono service remain the same. In this, our Spring 2008 edition of for the public good, we underscore our service to the global population, while maintaining our commitment to the local communities in which we live and work. Articles highlight our significant work in both the United States and the U.K. for sustainable drinking water worldwide, as well as one lawyer s efforts to help Mercy Corps fight for fairness in international charitable funding. We take a look at our work in Ireland, where the firm has helped position two organizations to pursue American support for their causes. Recognizing that the rule of law is fundamental to a just and economically strong society around the globe, ABA President and K&L Gates partner Bill Neukom describes his work with the World Justice Project. The report also provides a glimpse of our work closer to home, providing access to justice for those who are most at risk in our communities. Our lawyers routinely combat domestic violence and help address basic needs such as healthcare in their communities. We encourage the development of strong self-sustaining neighborhoods by nurturing nascent businesses and supporting cultural, civic and artistic organizations that enrich those communities. We also help to extend rule of law protections to those who are newly arrived on our shores by providing representation in immigration and asylum matters. As K&L Gates grows, so does our ability to meet the very real pro bono legal needs of our local and global communities, while furthering our lawyers professional development and job satisfaction. I hope these stories of our efforts far and near both educate and inspire you

4 World Justice Project Works to Advance the Rule of Law By Bill Neukom, ABA President and K&L Gates Partner The project defines the rule of law by four universal principles. First, the government must be accountable under the law. Second, laws must be clear, publicized, stable and fair, and they must protect fundamental rights. Third, the process by which laws are enacted, administered and enforced must be accessible, fair and efficient. Fourth, the legal process must feature competent, independent, ethical and diverse advocates and umpires. Each year the current ABA president identifies issues he or she wishes to address during his or her term. In this piece, ABA President and K&L Gates partner Bill Neukom expands on his focus, the World Justice Project. On November 3, while Pakistan s Supreme Court considered whether then General Pervez Musharraf could run for office as a member of the army, Musharraf suspended the constitution and put under house arrest Supreme Court justices and other judges who would not take loyalty oaths to him. He then violently arrested thousands of lawyers and other people for protesting his lawless acts. Musharraf s actions were a breach of the rule of law and demonstrate the critical importance of the rule of law to communities. Contrary to his claim that emergency rule was needed to protect Pakistan from terrorism, Pakistan is less stable now than before. When Musharraf attacked the rule of law, Pakistan became less safe, its economy suffered, and the prospect of free and fair elections dimmed. American lawyers expressed solidarity with our Pakistani colleagues through marches, petitions, and other means. Yet, the Pakistan example shows that all members of a community not only lawyers have a stake in the rule of law. Public health officials, engineers, educators, business people, labor leaders and members of many other fields need the rule of law to do their work. In order to build a broad base of support for the rule of law, the project has held multidisciplinary meetings in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America. We have struck a chord. Leaders of varied disciplines agree that we must work together to advance the rule of law, and organizations representing business, education, engineering and public health already have become co-sponsors of the project. The project also is developing new knowledge and tools to advance the rule of law. The Rule of Law Index, the first comprehensive such index, will measure countries adherence to the rule of law, and will help governments and civil society make informed decisions about needed reforms. This spring, the project will run the index in Chile, Columbia, India, Nigeria and the United States. The project also is supporting scholarship led by two Nobel Laureates, which will show the relationship between the rule of law and functional communities. The project will hold the World Justice Forum July 2 5 in Vienna. About 500 world leaders representing 15 disciplines will gather to design new multidisciplinary programs to advance the rule of law in their communities. The project will release its index findings and the scholars papers, and participants will help define the project s second phase. Lawyers have always understood the importance of the rule of law to our communities, and now members of other disciplines are recognizing that it is an essential foundation for their work, too. As the project demonstrates, lawyers can show leadership by bringing a cross section of their community together to support the rule of law. By working together, we get more accomplished, and everyone benefits. The World Justice Project, launched by the American Bar Association last year, is building a multidisciplinary, multinational movement to advance the rule of law. The project has two premises. First, the rule of law is the foundation for communities of opportunity and equity. Second, multidisciplinary collaboration is the most effective way to advance the rule of law

5 PAWS, Water Advocates Take Action for Sustainable Sanitation Worldwide Water Advocates In the United States, another long-term partnership with a non-profit organization has led to improvements in water and sanitation abroad. The firm s Washington, D.C. office has long aided client Water Advocates in its efforts to increase American support for worldwide access to safe, affordable and sustainable supplies of drinking water and adequate sanitation. According to the United Nations, 2.6 billion people worldwide are without proper sanitation facilities, and every year inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene contribute to the deaths of 1.5 million children. K&L Gates lawyers do their part to help remedy this international crisis, working pro bono with water advocacy organizations. Partners for Water and Sanitation For several years, the firm s London office has worked with U.K.-based Partners for Water and Sanitation (PAWS), a not-for-profit partnership whose members include U.K. water companies, development NGOs, engineering consultancy firms, trade unions and government departments and agencies. PAWS uses the wide range of skills from these partners to provide advice and support to projects on the request of partner countries, with the aim to build capacity through knowledge transfer in the water and sanitation sector and help provide a sustainable solution. K&L Gates is the organization s only law firm partner. In 2005, our lawyers worked with Water Advocates to push through Congress the Water for the Poor Act. The bill makes it a major U.S. foreign policy goal to promote safe, affordable drinking water in developing countries worldwide and requires the State Department to create a water development strategy. More recently, the firm s policy team scored a dramatic success for the organization when Congress signed a bill appropriating $300 million in the 2008 fiscal year for water projects in the developing world, an increase of 50 percent over last year. This funding will bring sustainable drinking water and sanitation to as many as three million people. The funding comes with strong requirements that it be spent in accordance with the Water for the Poor Act, ensuring that it will be used to provide long-term solutions in areas that need it most. Partners Daniel Ritter and Bruce Heiman and associate Paul Stimers have been the core leaders of this project, with nearly 20 policy group members participating in some way. In the past, our lawyers have donated time to partnering programs with three African countries: South Africa, Nigeria and Ethiopia. Lawyers work in teams with other PAWS partners alongside local municipalities for a week at a time, transferring expertise. Most recently, London lawyers Christopher Causer and Peter Dzakula spent a week in Pretoria, South Africa, leading a workshop on public-private partnerships. The two provided hands-on advice to officials from the different provincial governments in South Africa about how to negotiate successful outsourcing contracts and public-private partnerships. In addition to his fieldwork with the organization, Causer sits on the PAWS Steering Group. He has been involved with PAWS from its first creation, which followed the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Fellow London lawyer Stuart Borrie aided PAWS with corporate work this year, converting PAWS into a company limited by guarantee

6 Immigration

7 Immigrants Seek Safe Haven Democratic Republic of Congo Seattle associate Carrie Valladares successfully secured asylum for a Congolese woman and her three young children. Widow to a murdered husband and mother to missing twins, Carrie s client and her family suffered violent persecution at the hands of the ruling government in the Democratic Republic of Congo for many years. As if asylum was not victory enough, our client can also rejoice in the possibility of being reunited with her missing twins, recently found in Rwanda. Helping refugees fleeing persecution in their homelands find a safe haven in the United States is a cornerstone of K&L Gates pro bono activity. Lawyers from offices throughout the firm regularly represent clients in immigration hearings, giving individuals from around the world a new lease on life. Afghanistan Los Angeles associate Alexandra Sparling argued for and achieved asylum for a young woman fighting for her life in war-torn Afghanistan. Fleeing the Taliban who kidnapped and presumably murdered her father, the woman found herself in Pakistan, fighting for the opportunity to come to America and further her education. With the help of the K&L Gates team, she won her fight and is currently attending college in the United States. Croatia Pittsburgh of counsel Barbara Bower has spent seven years advocating for a Croatian family that traveled to the United States seeking help for their three-year-old daughter, who needed a small intestine transplant. The procedure is rare for children, and the Children s Hospital of Pittsburgh is one of the premier pediatric small intestine transplant centers in the world. Originally in the United States under a six-month visitor s visa, five years passed before the girl received the transplant. Her body rejected the organ, and the girl, who is now 11, is waiting for a new transplant. The United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) has twice denied the family an extension of its visas in the nearly nine years they have lived in the country. In each case, Barbara argued before the USCIS that the girl will not survive elsewhere. Barbara is currently assisting the family in seeking other visa options, but that brings new challenges as many of their required documents, which were located in Sarajevo, Bosnia, were destroyed during the conflict there. Djibouti Taking on the case as a referral from Hate Free Zone, Seattle of counsel Jamie Pedersen successfully obtained political asylum for a Djiboutian refugee. The man fled to the United States after being arrested and tortured for his engagement to a woman from a different clan, a relationship prohibited by traditional Somali custom. After fleeing Djibouti to wait for his fiancée, our client learned that the woman s father had had the man s own father killed. Pedersen, with assistance from associate Nancy Kim and summer associate Brianne Anderson, persuaded an immigration judge to grant our client s request for political asylum in the United States. Our client was released this fall after spending nearly four months at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Wash. El Salvador Thanks to the efforts of Washington, D.C. associate Scott Lindsay and partners Brian McCalmon and Jim Weiss, a 20-year resident of the United States secured permanent residency under the Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NACARA). The pro bono client s NACARA application was technically barred because of two prior marijuana convictions; federal law allows for only one and, under a recent change, counts an arrest the same as a conviction. In a race against the clock, our lawyers worked to file the NACARA application and to have one of the client s guilty pleas and convictions expunged. While a Maryland district court annulled both the guilty plea and the conviction, the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service agency pushed to consider our client s application as if the conviction had not been set aside, on the basis of the arrest. The K&L Gates team called into question the constitutionality and legality under NACARA of using an annulled conviction to bar our client from eligibility. After a two-year struggle, USCIS agreed, and our client became a permanent resident of the United States. Zimbabwe As a local ward chairman for the Movement for Democratic Change, the primary opposition to Zimbabwe s government, Canaan Gwebu was a target for government agents concerned with the silencing of political opposition. Gwebu fled his native Zimbabwe after surviving the unlawful invasion of his home, the destruction of his personal property, the beating of his farm hands and threats on his life and those of his wife and six children. With the help of K&L Gates associate Lorna Neill and partner Rick Valentine, a judge ordered Gwebu s release from Piedmont Regional Jail and granted his application for political asylum. Gwebu is currently working to bring his family to the United States, where they can begin a new life free of terror and persecution

8 Family Law

9 Pro Bono Partnership Aims to Secure International Child Custody Rights someone eventually referred her to the Mexican Central Authority. There, she filed a petition to the U.S. State Department and was soon put in touch with the NCMEC. When children are taken across borders by one parent without the permission of the other, the ensuing custody dispute can be complicated, messy and fraught with family law issues. K&L Gates Dallas office is well-versed on this subject, representing clients pro bono in two recent cases referred through a partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. In the first case, the NCMEC asked the firm to represent the Mexican government in responding to an amicus brief filed in connection with a Sixth Circuit appeal of a return order under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The coalition of domestic violence groups who had filed the brief argued that the court should take into account the potential exposure of children to long-term domestic abuse in considering whether to return children who were illegally removed from Mexico to the United States. If the groups arguments had been adopted, Hague proceedings would have been converted from a purely jurisdictional dispute to a custody dispute, impacting the return of the large number of children abducted from Mexico to the United States. If U.S. courts were to broaden the scope of the return proceeding to include custody issues, courts in other countries would do the same. This could impact and likely derail the application of the Hague convention and hamper the return of children taken from the United States to foreign countries. In its ruling, the Sixth Circuit held that the court should not consider the long-term wellbeing of the children but instead should focus on the potential for grave risk during the time between repatriation and the determination of custody in the child s homeland. K&L Gates Dallas office is also active in advocating for victims of international child custody rights violations. In another case referred by the NCMEC, a young mother came to the firm after her common law husband abducted her two children from Mexico two years earlier. She went to the police every day for six months seeking help for her children s return, until The team, including associate Lauren Syler and partner Michael Napoli, secured a passport and visa for the mother to travel to the United States for the hearing. The team prepared her for court but on the day of the hearing, the woman s ex-partner did not appear. The judge ruled that the children should be returned to their mother, and that she should then have a Mexican court determine her custodial status. The judge also asked the U.S. Marshals to recover the woman s children from her ex-partner. The authorities quickly found the children and returned them to the mother s custody. The K&L Gates team helped her on a bus back to Mexico later that day. Pro bono cases such as these often deeply affect both the client and the lawyer. Comments Syler, I was incredibly touched by this whole process and honored to be a part of it. It was one of those moments in life, where you realize that you are only a small cog in a huge process. It was unbelievable that this woman s tenacity and refusal to give up hope brought her to K&L Gates. She sought and searched and did everything she could. I m so proud that I got to help her and I hope to work with more women like her in the future. These two matters are a sample of the cases in which K&L Gates has represented parents seeking the return of their children under the Hague Convention through its offices in Dallas, Miami, Spokane and San Francisco. Immigrant Wins New Hearing in Domestic Violence Appeal As a result of a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, an immigrant woman who alleges that she has been the victim of domestic violence now has another chance to prove that she should be allowed to remain in the United States. K&L Gates Harrisburg partner David Fine and associate J. Leigh Wray filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the woman on behalf of the National Network to End Violence Against Immigrant Women. In a published opinion, the Seventh Circuit recognized the importance of protections provided by the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) for immigrants who claim that they are victims of domestic violence. In Sanchez v. Keisler, the court found that the Board of Immigration Appeals erred when it rejected Ana Sanchez s effort to invoke the longer time period for filing motions to reopen under the VAWA. The court also disagreed with the board s conclusion that her lawyer did not offer ineffective assistance when he failed to pursue a claim under the VAWA. For Ms. Sanchez, the decision means a new hearing with a more complete and fair record. More broadly, the decision highlights the need for immigration lawyers, immigration judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals to consider the application of the VAWA when a case presents issues of domestic violence

10 Motion for Revision Squad Wins Protection Order The Domestic Violence Revision Squad sponsored by the King County Bar Association regularly benefits from K&L Gates pro bono efforts. As part of the program, volunteer lawyers represent victims in filing motions for revision or reconsideration in cases in which a protection order has been wrongly denied or is insufficiently protective of the children. Seattle partners Laura Clinton, Stephanie Pickett and Steve Smith have been regular participants in this program. Smith recently won a case as a volunteer for this program. Smith represented the former spouse and daughter of a man who threatened his daughter with physical violence, withholding food and sending her to a foster home. A protection order was entered, but aggressive opposing counsel filed motions for revision, to quash the order and for contempt of court. The revision motion contended that threats of corporal punishment of a child were lawful, and denied the other conduct. Smith demonstrated that the record contained ample evidence of conduct which constituted domestic violence under the statute or the judge s domestic violence handbook. Judge Mary Roberts affirmed the protection order, granting Smith s motion. Criminal Justice and Civil Rights -16-

11 Handicapped Death Row Inmate Fights for Life affidavits from jurors attesting to the fact that, had they been aware of the client s mental retardation, tragic personal history or counsel s conflict of interest, they would not have voted for the death penalty. Currently, the team is preparing for an opportunity to argue at a hearing later this year that the client is mentally retarded, that he was not present at the time of the crime and that the co-defendants, aware of the client s limitations, blamed him for the crime in an attempt to escape their own death sentences. In the area of criminal justice, the need for pro bono lawyers is great. On the flip side, for the participating attorney, opportunities afforded by programs offering pro bono assistance to individuals in the justice system are extremely valuable. The underlying skills necessary to represent defendants in all of these cases are the same: working to protect the client s interests, maintaining their trust, negotiating sentencing and witness protection, and operating effectively within the multiple levels of government. A current pro bono case illustrates this point, as Washington, D.C. lawyers Brian Stolarz, Bethany Nikfar and David Case, and Dallas of counsel Frederick Medlin help a Houston man on death row fight for his life. The client, who suffers from mental retardation, was sentenced to death in 2005 for the murder of a Houston police officer. Two other men accused in the double murder and robbery were convicted; one was also sentenced to death, while the other was sentenced to 30 years in prison after testifying against the co-defendants. When the Texas Defender Service asked K&L Gates for assistance, Stolarz and Nikfar stepped in to investigate the inmate s claims of innocence and the evidence that he is mentally retarded evidence that would spare his life. Along with a team of investigators, Stolarz and Nikfar uncovered evidence that witnesses had been pressured to testify against their client; that trial counsel failed to conduct a proper investigation into both evidence of the client s limited mental functioning and mitigating evidence about his troubled family background; and that trial counsel labored under a conflict of interest that had not previously been disclosed. Prisoner Wins Civil Rights Appeal New York partner Doug Broder has worked with the Pro Bono Panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit for more than 25 years, handling nearly 50 appeals in that time. He accepts cases from the court s pro bono clerk to assist pro se appellants whose cases have been dismissed or otherwise lost in the lower courts. The majority of the cases involve prisoners claims that they have been mistreated during arrest or while in prison or that they have otherwise been denied their constitutional rights. Recently, Broder and associate Brian Koosed represented an inmate in a New York state correctional facility. In Wheeler v. Butler, the client contended that he was denied due process of the law under the Fifth Amendment in a prison disciplinary hearing and that the ensuing sentence constituted cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. Alleged to have started a fire, the inmate was sentenced to 86 days in solitary confinement, where he was denied use of his hearing aids. Diagnosed almost a decade ago with severe hearing loss, the client felt that solitary confinement without his hearing aids was both cruel and unusual and so sued the responsible prison officials. Broder and Koosed became involved in the case after it was dismissed by the New York District Court and appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Koosed performed the oral argument in December The judges recently reversed the lower court s decision and granted the client s appeal, a victory for Broder and Koosed as well. Armed with this evidence, the K&L Gates team filed an application for a writ of habeas corpus in the District Court of Harris County, Texas, urging the court to overturn the death sentence. In support of the application, first-year associates Lauren Bergen, Denise Gitsham, Grace Su, Chris Tate and Nicole Trudeau, along with paralegal Craig Gaver, traveled to Houston to gather signed

12 Government Witness Gains Protection San Francisco lawyers spearheaded by Jeff Bornstein regularly represent both prisoners and indigent criminal defendants in two California courts, the Eastern District Court of California in Sacramento and the Criminal Justice Act Panel of the Northern District Court of California. In the second half of 2007, Bornstein took on four cases in which his team represented two different criminal defendants in federal drug cases, a material witness in a federal smuggling case and a prisoner in a civil rights case. Currently, Bornstein and associate Leah Shough represent a government witness in a large-scale drug case. The client is the witness against more than a dozen defendants allegedly involved in a sophisticated scheme to transport thousands of grams of pure methamphetamine from California to Hawaii in fake cans of fruits and vegetables. Bornstein and Shough worked to ensure their client and his family physical protection and argued for a reduction in his sentence when he agreed to be a witness in the federal case. Pro Bono Highlights Around the Firm Lawyers Lend District Attorney s Office a Helping Hand In addition to providing pro bono representation to indigent criminal defendants, our lawyers in Newark have the opportunity to assist the prosecutors, helping to maintain a smooth-running justice system. Through the Appeals Division of the New York County District Attorney s Office, our lawyers provide assistance to the assistant district attorneys who respond to criminal appeals filed by convicted defendants. In these cases, our lawyers prepare an appeal brief, confer with the assistant district attorney and argue the appeal before the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department. In a recent case, associates Angela DiGiglio and Megan Mueller represented the People in a case where the defendant/appellant was convicted of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree without having been afforded the right by the trial judge to a lesser included charge of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree. The assistant district attorney who assigned the appeal acknowledged the weakness of the case, but our associates drafted a well-written and wellreceived response to the appellant s motion. Oral argument was held before a full five-judge panel of the First Department where an energetic discussion took place. Although the appellant prevailed, the district attorney s office was pleased with the written and oral advocacy skills provided by our associates. -20-

13 Northern Ireland Peace-Building Accomplishments Benefit from Firm Work K&L Gates pro bono work extends far beyond the offices local communities. In the firm s Boston office, partner Harry Grill helps to lead pro bono efforts with international impact, dedicating time to worthy causes in Northern Ireland. The organizations, Intercomm Enterprises USA and the Linen Hall Library Foundation, both came to Grill for help establishing their status as 501(c)(3) entities. For more than 10 years, Intercomm has served as a model for conflict resolution, reconciliation and peace-building programs in Northern Ireland. By incorporating as a non-profit organization, the group aims to raise awareness and support throughout the United States. Grill also advises the group in ways to expand their conflict resolution protocol into other areas of the world. K&L Gates continues to provide invaluable counsel to Intercomm in its efforts to assist not only Northern Ireland, but other areas of the world such as Israel, the Palestinian territories and Iraq in promoting the successful conflict resolution and peace maintenance protocols that have worked in Belfast and Northern Ireland. We are grateful for the pro bono representation and being part of the K&L Gates family, said Liam Maskey, Intercomm s executive director and president. Similarly, Grill advised the Linen Hall Library Foundation in their incorporation as a non-profit organization. The library is the oldest in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and is a leading center for Irish and local studies. It serves as a neutral space to foster intellectual discussion through debates, seminars, workshops, exhibits and community events. Through its non-profit entity in the United States, the organization hopes to sustain and develop its unique work by gaining support to preserve and facilitate access to the library s historic resources. Mercy Corps Fights Worldwide Vetting System In the summer of 2007, the United States Agency for International Development issued a notice in the Federal Register regarding its proposed Partner Vetting System. The agency plans to use the information storehouse to vet individuals, officers or other officials of non-governmental organizations applying for USAID funding, ensuring that neither USAID funds nor USAID-funded activities provide support to terrorist activities. Concerned that this system would adversely affect charitable organization funding worldwide, international volunteer organization Mercy Corps called on Portland associate Joy Nair for help. Nair aided the organization with two comment letters addressing the organization s concerns. Mercy Corps officials believe that this system will ultimately affect not only those living in America but citizens of nations throughout the world. In each of the comment letters, Nair outlined the problems with USAID s proposal, including USAID s improper policymaking process, the lack of demonstrated need for such a system, USAID s lack of authority to set up a worldwide system and the restriction of due process caused by the system s vague application. USAID never adopted the PVS and a timetable has yet to be set for future implementation. Mercy Corps is a non-profit volunteer organization that aims to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities

14 St. Giles Trust Champions Smooth Transition for Ex-Convicts The St. Giles Trust is a U.K. organization that provides employment opportunities for ex-convicts upon their release from prison, easing their transition back into the public. The two London lawyers spearheading the relationship, associate Comron Rowe and partner Danny Tsang, recently provided pensions advice for the transfer of an employee from the Probation Service to the St. Giles Trust. In addition, partners Noel Deans and Laura Harcombe provided employment and litigation advice on a grievance brought against the organization by an employee. The U.K. pensions, employment and litigation teams are hoping to build an ongoing relationship with the St. Giles Trust. Merger Creates Girl Scouts of Western Washington A team of Seattle lawyers helped create Girl Scouts of Western Washington, which is made up of the former Girl Scouts Totem Council, in northwest Washington, and Girl Scouts Pacific Peaks Council in the southwestern part of the state. The new council, which serves more than 27,000 girls in 17 Washington counties, will be able to better use shared resources, build on the strengths of each region and improve efficiency. Associate Richard Denenny led the legal team for the merger, with assistance from partners Pat Char and Tammy Watts. Legal Services for Entrepreneurs Promotes Economic Justice Our San Francisco and Palo Alto offices provide ongoing pro bono counsel to the Legal Services for Entrepreneurs (LSE) project, a branch of the San Francisco organization Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. Legal Services for Entrepreneurs is an economic justice project that provides free business law counsel to low-income individuals who want to start or develop for-profit businesses, and to certain for-profit businesses committed to community economic development. Associate Michael Haven is the San Francisco and Palo Alto office liaison to the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. Our lawyers work with LSE on business law matters ranging from zoning compliance to copyright infringement. San Francisco Program Supports HIV-Positive Patients K&L Gates lawyers in the San Francisco area provide counsel to the AIDS Legal Referral Panel (ALRP), an organization that offers free or low-cost legal services to anyone who is HIV positive. ALRP believes that any legal problem is a stress on patients health, and the organization contracts attorneys on a pro bono basis to work with the patients on issues ranging from consumer credit to immigration disputes. Associate Erin Murphy, San Francisco lawyer and firm liaison to ALRP, has been involved in the organization for more than four years. She and other K&L Gates lawyers take on between eight and 10 cases every year, drafting wills, powers of attorney and advanced health care directives for clients to ensure that each client s possessions reach the right person

15 Park Preserve Challenges FAA Decision When the Federal Aviation Administration ruled to restructure aircraft arrival and departures from New York and Philadelphia-area airports, pro bono client Friends of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve, Inc., was dismayed. The park, carved out of the original John D. Rockefeller estate and designated a park preserve by New York, is designed to be a quiet setting for contemplation. The FAA s decision would route significantly more air traffic over the park from the Westchester County airport, creating more noise pollution. The group turned to New York partner Don Stever, who quickly filed a petition to review the decision in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Stever argued the FAA ignored Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act, which prohibits the federal government from affecting public parks and recreation areas without undertaking a full analysis of feasible alternatives. The pro bono client is in good company: there are approximately 12 petitions challenging the FAA s ruling currently pending, filed by the state of Connecticut, a number of counties and municipalities in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and several other citizens organizations, making this the largest challenge to an FAA decision in the Department of Transportation s history. Associate Transforms Personal Hardship into Pro Bono Legal Advocacy Experiencing his own family s struggle with cancer brought Portland associate Matt Goldberg face to face with the plight of others in the same situation. When his wife, Cary, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, he became aware of the hardships that less fortunate breast cancer patients and their families often encounter, from disputes with insurance companies to issues with employers. Tying his personal plight to his career, Goldberg s goal is to create a pro bono legal clinic to assist low-income breast cancer patients. For Goldberg, the firm s flexible approach to balanced hours helped him keep up with his work while at the same time be by his wife s side during treatments and surgery, as well as take care of his two young children. He realized that many breast cancer patients don t have the luxury of flexible employers and full health insurance, and wanted to do something positive to change that. Goldberg felt legal assistance could help make a difference, and his efforts to create a legal advocacy project for low-income breast cancer patients are well under way. He began by contacting lawyers in Seattle who had helped form a similar program. The American Bar Association s Committee on Women in the Profession, the ABA s Health Law section and the Oregon Women Lawyers have lent their support, and, along with K&L Gates, co-sponsored an initial training session for lawyers in December The Breast Cancer Legal Advocacy Project of Oregon is currently representing its first pro bono client in an insurance coverage dispute and hopes to begin providing free legal assistance to other patients and further legal training to lawyers later this year. Goldberg has since been invited to join the ABA s Breast Cancer Task Force

16 Club Strives to Save Historic Clay Tennis Courts It isn t often that cities are urged by their citizens to not spend money. But inaction is exactly what a team of Pittsburgh lawyers helped pro bono client Frick Park Clay Court Tennis Club achieve. The city of Pittsburgh was seeking funds from the Allegheny Regional Asset District to asphalt over the red clay tennis courts in Frick Park, a 600-acre park donated by millionaire-industrialist Henry Clay Frick in The Frick clay tennis courts are the only public clay courts in Pittsburgh and the only red clay courts in all of southwestern Pennsylvania. Because Pittsburgh did not have the resources or expertise to maintain the courts, the city decided it would be better to pave them over. However, after the tennis club received permission from the city to make some minor improvements, the unincorporated club sprang into action, rehabilitating four of the six courts, raising money, recruiting members, and holding clinics and tournaments. The club tapped partner Joseph Leibowicz to incorporate the group and enter into a formal agreement with the city. Associate Cordy Glenn, with assistance from associate Christina Burke, helped incorporate the club and obtain their tax-exempt status. After hearing the group and other local residents state their case, the ARAD board urged the city of Pittsburgh to hear the residents requests. In the meantime, Leibowicz helped establish a dialogue with the city solicitor and the office of Parks and Recreation, and sought the assistance of the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy. The city listened and has shelved plans to pave the courts. With Glenn s and Burke s assistance, Leibowicz is now in the process of negotiating a permanent agreement with the city and a cooperative arrangement with the Parks Conservancy to assure the future of the red clay courts. Awards -28-

17 K&L Gates Lawyers Honored for Pro Bono Work K&L Gates lawyers are regularly recognized for their pro bono work. Recent awards include: Star Volunteer Award The South West London Law Centres recently named London assistant lawyer Dan Lopez a Star Volunteer for his work on behalf of the Battersea Legal Advice Centre. For more than five years Dan has been part of the K&L Gates team contributing to the Centre s efforts, offering free legal advice to those who would otherwise not be able to afford it. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Award of Merit In June 2007, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) named San Francisco associate Deirdre Digrande and Washington, D.C. associate Amanda Kostner, formerly of San Francisco, recipients of its Award of Merit for their efforts in representing a Mexican mother seeking return of her abducted infant daughter. On behalf of their client, Digrande and Kostner filed a petition for return of the child pursuant to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and the International Child Abduction Remedies Act and argued its merits during a four-day evidentiary hearing. While the petition was ultimately unsuccessful, Digrande and Kostner received, in addition to the Award of Merit, high praise from the judge and the attorney who represented the state of California in the proceedings. John Carroll Society Pro Bono Legal Services Award The John Carroll Society presented Washington, D.C. associate Brian Stolarz with their 2007 Pro Bono Legal Services Award at the Annual Red Mass, at which the chief justice of the Supreme Court and associate justices were in attendance. The award honors the lawyer with the most case referrals from the Archdiocesan Legal Network for disadvantaged individuals in the greater Washington, D.C. area. Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program Silver Awards The Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program recognized the firm s Dallas office with the Silver Award, honoring the lawyers outstanding pro bono contributions by a law office with 50 lawyers or fewer. This is the fourth consecutive year that K&L Gates has received this prestigious award. This recognition is well-earned: in 2007, the office doubled its pro bono hours from the previous year. The program also honored the legacy Hughes & Luce Dallas office with its 2007 Gold Award for large law offices

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19 For more information about our pro bono work, please contact: Rory Fitzpatrick Carleton O. Strouss Matthew D. Wells K&L Gates comprises approximately 1,500 lawyers in 24 offices located in North America, Europe and Asia, and represents capital markets participants, entrepreneurs, growth and middle market companies, leading FORTUNE 100 and FTSE 100 global corporations and public sector entities. For more information, please visit K&L Gates comprises multiple affiliated partnerships: a limited liability partnership with the full name Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP qualified in Delaware and maintaining offices throughout the U.S., in Berlin, and in Beijing (Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP Beijing Representative Office); a limited liability partnership (also named Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP) incorporated in England and maintaining our London and Paris offices; a Taiwan general partnership (Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis) which practices from our Taipei office; and a Hong Kong general partnership (Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis, Solicitors) which practices from our Hong Kong office. K&L Gates maintains appropriate registrations in the jurisdictions in which its offices are located. A list of the partners in each entity is available for inspection at any K&L Gates office. This publication/newsletter is for informational purposes and does not contain or convey legal advice. The information herein should not be used or relied upon in regard to any particular facts or circumstances without first consulting a lawyer. Data Protection Act 1998 We may contact you from time to time with information on Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP seminars and with our regular newsletters, which may be of interest to you. We will not provide your details to any third parties. Please london@klgates.com if you would prefer not to receive this information Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP. All Rights Reserved.