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For more than 30 years, Fenwick & West has served its community by offering legal services to persons and organizations
that could not otherwise afford effective legal counsel. We recognize that providing legal services is not only an
essential part of our professional responsibility, but also an excellent opportunity to gain valuable practical experience,
learn new areas of the law and contribute to the community.
In the past two years, Fenwick & West attorneys have logged well over 14,000 pro bono hours and have been recognized for
both the volume and the quality of their work. To encourage pro bono legal services, Fenwick & West recognizes
all approved pro bono work as "billable" hours for all purposes for non-partner attorneys.
Working with a variety of local and national organizations, Fenwick & West's pro bono efforts include
Fellowships,
Child Advocacy,
Civil Rights,
Impact Litigation,
Appellate Project,
Street Law,
AIDS Project,
Death Penalty,
Corporate,
Intellectual Property,
Tax and
Political Asylum/Immigration.
Equal Justice Works Fellowships. Fenwick & West
co-sponsors an Equal Justice Works (formerly NAPIL) fellow to work for two years in California on social issues such as
homelessness, access to healthcare, consumer rights, domestic violence, community development, civil rights, discrimination
in housing and employment, worker's rights or children's health and welfare issues. The fellowship program represents the
largest postgraduate legal fellowship program in the country. The firm's participation in the program is critical to our
mission to provide legal services to underrepresented people and communities.
2007-2009 Fellow (Greta Hansen). Greta Hansen works at the ACLU of Northern California, where she represents students of color who are denied equal educational opportunities through discriminatory school discipline policies and the overpolicing of schools. In schools across California, students of color are suspended and expelled at significantly greater rates than their peers, a phenomenon that has been exacerbated by the rise of "zero tolerance" policies and the increased presence of police officers on school campuses. Because they are disproportionately removed from school, these students are denied the educational opportunities they need and deserve, and to which they are legally entitled. In order to reduce these disparities, Greta is identifying the school districts in which these problems are most severe, informing families about students' rights, promoting public awareness about these issues, and conducting impact litigation that will increase the protections afforded to students subject to discriminatory practices. Her work helps ensure that these practices do not serve as barriers to achievement for students of color, and reduces the number of young people caught in the school-to-prison pipeline. Greta's commitment to promoting racial and economic justice in the public education and criminal justice systems is longstanding. While in law school, she coordinated an outreach program in juvenile detention facilities in Oakland and San Francisco, and assisted lawyers representing death row inmates in California and Alabama. She also interned at the ACLU of Southern California, where she worked on education and racial justice litigation. Greta was a member of the Center for Social Justice Student Advisory Board and the Coalition for Diversity, and was co-president of both the Boalt Hall Student Association and the Youth & Education Law Society. Before beginning her fellowship, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
2005-2007 Fellow (Laureen Laglagaron). As a multi-lingual advocate fluent in Tagalog, French and conversant in Cebuano, Laureen Laglagaron, through her sponsoring agency Asian Pacific Islander (API) Legal Outreach, works to provide direct legal services and rights training to the Greater Bay Area’s sizeable low-income Filipino immigrant community. Filipino Americans are the second largest Asian immigrant population in the Bay Area. However, the dearth of culturally and linguistically appropriate, low-cost or no fee immigration legal services has led to a proliferation of fraudulent immigration providers preying on low-income Filipino immigrants. Ms. Laglagaron's project aims to protect immigrant consumers by: providing direct legal services to low-income immigrants, educating the community regarding their legal rights to prevent victimization and litigating against fraudulent immigration consultants.
2003-2005 Fellow (Brooke Heymach). Fenwick & West's 2003-2005 fellow is co-sponsored by the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County. Ms. Heymach's project includes the formation of the Children's H.E.R.O. Project—Health Education, Representation and Outreach—a program to assist low-income children gain access to healthcare services of San Mateo County. Ms. Heymach's project includes an educational component to raise awareness in the community about benefits available including early intervention programs for infants and toddlers mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
2001-2003 Fellow (Molly Dunne). As part of her commitment to assist low-income, at-risk youth in San Francisco, Ms. Dunne and her sponsoring agency, the Bar Association of San Francisco (BASF), offer training for attorneys willing to represent students in school expulsion hearings. Today many school infractions result in expulsion and/or arrest. These cases are often the gateway to identifying other needs the student may have, and are essential to keeping at risk students in school so that they receive the services they need. Expulsion hearings present an opportunity for volunteer lawyers to make a significant contribution to youth in the San Francisco community.
Challenge to Turnover of Telephone Call Records to the National Security Agency.
Partnering with the ACLU affiliates in Northern California, Los Angeles, and San Diego, the firm has filed legal actions against AT&T and Verizon for violations of state law rights of privacy by those companies' turnover to the NSA of telephone call records of millions of Californians. The lawsuits were filed on behalf of former Republican Congressman Bill Campbell and prominent criminal defense attorney Dennis Riordan, among others. It maintains that records of who called whom, and for how long, are private and cannot be made available to the government absent a warrant or court order, which have not been obtained. The case raises novel issues of law regarding "state secrets," federal jurisdiction over state law claims, and privacy rights. It is now pending as part of the Multi-District Litigation in the Northern District of California.
Fenwick & West Defends Blogger's Right to Parody Anti-Gay Speech.
Fenwick & West and the ACLU came to the defense of a California man who received a cease-and-desist letter after posting a parody of a billboard advertisement for so-called "reparative therapy" intended to "cure" homosexual sexual identification. The Liberty Counsel, a conservative advocacy group, claimed the blogger's parody violated the intellectual property rights of Exodus International, a Christian ministry promoting its view of "traditional" values, and threatened legal action. Fenwick & West countered by asserting the blogger's First Amendment right to express his opinions through parody, and backed down the Liberty Counsel, which dropped its claim in an episode that was widely publicized in the New York Times and USA Today.
Fenwick & West Secures Preliminary Approval of Class Action Settlement. On December 4, 2007, the Santa Clara County Superior Court preliminarily approved the conditional settlement agreement reached by the parties in the certified class action, Hopkins, et al. v. Flores, et al., Case No. 1-05-CV035647. The Court also scheduled a fairness hearing on January 24, 2008 at 9:00 a.m. for final approval of the settlement. If you are or were an inmate of Santa Clara County's jails at any time after July 1, 2003, a copy of the class notice is available by clicking here.
The original complaint was filed by Fenwick & West in conjunction with the Public Interest Law Firm on February 15, 2005 for the County's alleged misuse and mismanagement of the Inmate Welfare Fund, a trust fund created by statute to be used for the benefit, education and welfare of the more than 4,000 people incarcerated in Santa Clara County jails. The complaint alleged that instead of using the fund for rehabilitative programs and services for inmates — including domestic violence classes, HIV/AIDS education, a parenting program, substance abuse rehabilitation, and an inmate literacy program — the County had diverted money from the fund to pay for guard salaries and other expenses that should be paid by the County from other sources.
Class Action Against Mortgage Company for Predatory Lending and Unfair Business Practices.
On January 14, 2005, Fenwick & West and Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto filed a class action complaint alleging predatory
lending and unfair business practices by Ameriquest Mortgage Company and Argent Mortgage Company, both wholly-owned subsidiaries of
Ameriquest Capital Corporation. The complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on
behalf of five named Plaintiffs residing in San Mateo and Contra Costa Counties and all other similarly situated persons across the country.
Pallotta TeamWorks. In
April 2002, Fenwick & West filed a class action lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court against Pallotta Teamworks (PTW),
the for-profit company that organizes "HIV/AIDS Vaccine Rides." These long-distance bike rides are conducted throughout the
United States to raise money for the development of a vaccine to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS-related illnesses. To date,
only $8 million of the approximately $28 million raised has been distributed by PTW to the organizations that were designated
as the beneficiaries of "HIV/AIDS Vaccine Rides." Fenwick & West's class action was brought to ensure that proceeds of these
rides go to organizations that conduct vaccine research in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Patient Doe v. City and County of San Francisco, et al. In June 2001, Fenwick
& West filed a complaint against the City and County of San Francisco on behalf of Patient Doe, a patient of San Francisco
General Hospital. In the course of Patient Doe's treatment for AIDS and related illnesses, a billing dispute arose and the
Hospital disclosed Patient Doe's intimate medical details to a collection agency it had engaged. This case not only succeeded
in securing a monetary award for Patient Doe but also resulted in the issuance of a written directive to all Bureau of Delinquent
Revenue (BDR) employees that all medical records regarding a patient's diagnosis, treatment or billing. Under the new policy, the
BDR can only provide collection agencies with a patient's diagnosis or reason for treatment with the explicit written release of
the patient.
Cruz v. Vasquez. In 1995, we joined the
Public Interest Law Firm to file suit in U.S. District Court on behalf of 56
former inmates who suffered from sexual harassment and abuse by male guards at the Santa Clara County Women's Correctional Facility
in Milpitas, California. In addition to a final settlement of more than $1.1 million in damages and attorneys' fees, the court
granted injunctive relief directing the prison to modify shower and toilet facilities to increase privacy and to institute policies
and training that would prevent the recurrence of such abuses.
Law Foundation of Silicon Valley. The Law Foundation is a
non-profit agency that provides free legal services to members of the Silicon Valley community through its five legal services programs:
AIDS Legal Services, Fair Housing Law Project, Legal Advocates for Children & Youth (LACY), Mental Health Advocacy Project, and Public
Interest Law Firm. Fenwick & West attorneys provide pro bono legal services through several of the Law Foundation's programs and have
been co-counsel with Foundation attorneys in impact litigations. In addition, Fenwick & West provides financial support as a "Supreme
Court" Level Sponsor.
LACY Guardianship Panel. Legal Advocates
for Children & Youth (LACY), a project of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, runs a program that provides legal assistance
to minors seeking legal guardianship, in part by matching them with pro bono attorneys from area firms. The demand for such
services is huge, constituting one-half of the inquiries LACY receives. Most of LACY's clients are neglected or abused by
overburdened families, and have become victims of such social problems as crime, violence, poverty, homelessness, substance
abuse, or ethnic and racial discrimination. Fenwick & West attorneys have represented a number of at risk minors in a variety
of challenging circumstances.
Grutter v. Bollinger.
Fenwick & West filed a brief Amici Curiae of Veterans of the Southern Civil Rights Movement and Family Members of Murdered
Civil Rights Activists in this affirmative action case before the U.S. Supreme Court involving the University of Michigan Law School.
In this brief, we represented many well-known and historic figures of the civil rights movement, including Coretta Scott King, Congressman
John Lewis, Julian Bond, Bob Moses, Diane Nash, Ezell Blair (one of the four students who launched the civil rights movement by sitting in
at a Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C.) and several Freedom Riders, and the family members of murdered civil rights workers Mickey
Schwerner, Jim Chaney, Andy Goodman, Herbert Lee and Louis Allen.
Ninth Circuit Pro Bono Program. In 2001, Fenwick & West joined the Ninth Circuit's Pro Bono
Program, which was formed to assist the court in processing pro se civil appeals more equitably and efficiently. The goal of the
program is to provide counsel to pro se parties in all civil and habeas corpus appeals in which the court determines that
briefing and argument by counsel would benefit the court's review. Representation by pro bono counsel assists the court in ensuring that
pro se cases receive the same attention as other cases of similar complexity. Through this program, Fenwick & West attorneys have
briefed and argued a number of cases, including appeals on behalf of a Romanian woman seeking asylum to escape political prosecution,
prisoners seeking habeas corpus relief and a destitute small-businessperson seeking patent royalties.
FCBA Pro Bono Referral Program. Fenwick & West also participates in the Federal Circuit Bar Association's
Pro Bono Referral Program. The FCBA works with the Federal Circuit to identify pro bono counsel who may be appointed to assist the Court in pending
appeals within the court's jurisdiction, which includes patent appeals from district courts and from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Through this
program, Fenwick & West attorneys recently represented an owner of a toothbrush patent in an appeal to the Federal Circuit from a grant of summary
judgment of noninfringement in defendant's favor, obtaining a reversal and remand in a precedential opinion.
Lawyers in the Library. The Lawyers in the Library program is
coordinated and sponsored by the Pro Bono Project Silicon Valley. It helps low-income members of Santa Clara County by connecting them
with attorneys willing to help with their cases on a pro bono basis. Fenwick & West is the only law firm in the Bay Area that actually
hosts the site for the drop-in advice clinic. Every Monday evening, we open our doors and host the clinic's north county site. The
program serves many people who just need to be pointed in the right direction, others who need help assessing the merit of their cases,
and still others who need information directing them to the appropriate agency to help them.
Volunteer Attorney Program (VAP), East Palo Alto Community Legal Services. The Volunteer Attorney
Program (VAP) was started in 1985 by attorneys from several Silicon Valley law firms, who were interested in getting directly involved with
volunteer legal services. Fenwick & West was one of the earliest members of VAP. The program refers cases to VAP attorneys in areas not
handled by staff attorneys for Community Legal Services. These areas include: consumer, personal injury and tort claims of $10,000 and
under, landlord-tenant, and other civil matters. Fenwick & West staffs VAP every six weeks on a rotating basis, assuring a steady supply
of new matters.
Stanford Community Law Clinic. The Stanford Community
Law Clinic (SCLC), which opened its doors in the fall of 2002, trains and supervises Stanford law students to educate, counsel and represent
clients in a variety of areas of civil law, including housing, public benefits, worker's rights and other employment matters, guardianships
and consumer issues. SCLC operates in partnership with the
Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County. SCLC's services are offered free of charge
to low income residents of East Palo Alto, East Menlo Park and Redwood City. Fenwick & West is a charter member of the Clinic's advisory
council, which includes representatives from Silicon Valley's top firms.
Homeless Advocacy Project. The Homeless Advocacy Project
operates a legal clinic in San Francisco each week and provides free legal services and supporting social services to individuals and
families who are homeless or are at serious risk of becoming homeless. The legal clinic offers advice on public benefits, immigration,
criminal and family law, and consumer issues. The Project is staffed by pro bono attorneys, paralegals and law students trained and
supervised by the HAP staff. HAP is sponsored by the Volunteer Legal Services Program, which was established by San Francisco Bar
Association in 1977.
AIDS Legal Referral Panel (ALRP). ALRP serves persons living with HIV
disease or AIDS in the San Francisco Bay Area Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Solano and Sonoma.
Since 1983, over 40,000 people have called on ALRP for help with a legal matter, often a crisis that has emerged to threaten the
remaining stability in their lives. ALRP responds to these basic human needs by handling insurance disputes, advocating on behalf
of people whose Social Security Applications have been denied, fighting unfair evictions, taking on employment discrimination cases,
handling guardianship cases and providing wills and durable powers of attorney.
Patient Doe v. City and County of San Francisco, et al. In June 2001, Fenwick & West
filed a complaint against the City and County of San Francisco on behalf of Patient Doe, a patient of San Francisco General Hospital.
In the course of Patient Doe's treatment for AIDS and related illnesses, a billing dispute arose and the Hospital disclosed Patient
Doe's intimate medical details to a collection agency it had engaged. This case not only succeeded in securing a monetary award for
Patient Doe but also resulted in the issuance of a written directive to all Bureau of Delinquent Revenue (BDR) employees that all
medical records regarding a patient's diagnosis, treatment or billing may be released to that patient. Under the new policy, the BDR
can only provide collection agencies with a patient's diagnosis or reason for treatment with the explicit written release of the patient.
Duncan Death Penalty Case (Henry Earl Duncan v. Jeanne Woodford). In May 1986, Mr.
Duncan was convicted of felony murder of a night supervisor at an LAX restaurant and was sentenced to death. One month later, Fenwick
& West was appointed by the California Supreme Court as Mr. Duncan's appellate counsel, and the Firm has represented him in his efforts
to overturn his death sentence ever since. Mr. Duncan's habeas corpus petition, which includes claims that his trial counsel's representation during both the guilt and penalty phases of the trial was constitutionally defective, is pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Mississippi Post-Conviction Project. The Post-Conviction Project represents death row inmates
in Mississippi, one of the few states that does not provide state funding for post-conviction death penalty defense. The Post-Conviction
Project is staffed by two attorneys, who represent death row prisoners in habeas corpus petitions. They also supervise volunteer
attorneys and students across the country in research and filing petitions on behalf of inmates. In 2002, Fenwick & West prepared a
written manual to assist defense counsel in Mississippi with the complex state and federal habeas corpus systems.
Women's Technology Cluster. The Women's Technology Cluster (soon to be called Astia)
is a San Francisco-based business accelerator committed to increasing the number of successful women-led companies in the life science, high technology,
and clean technology sectors. Through a dedicated community of proven CEOs, investors, and industry experts, the WTC provides extensive advisory services,
coaching, and access to business and capital networks. The WTC is a 501(c)(3) corporation. Fenwick & West attorneys advise the WTC and provide pro bono
legal services and coaching services to WTC member companies.
Pacific Community Ventures (formerly Silicon Valley
Community Ventures). Pacific Community Ventures is a non-profit organization providing resources and capital to businesses that have the
potential to bring significant economic gains to low-income communities throughout California. Pacific Community Ventures offers a
comprehensive array of services to the companies in its portfolio, including business advisory services, access to critical tools and
resources and equity and debt financing.
"Outfoxed" and "American Blackout.".
Fenwick & West has joined with the Stanford Center for Internet and Society's "Fair Use Project" to represent documentary filmmakers with respect to potential copyright and other issues. Released in 2004, "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" used numerous clips from Fox News broadcasts to demonstrate that the content was neither fair nor balanced. The firm counseled Director Robert Greenwald and his company in complying with copyright and other laws and responding to threats by Fox. The firm provided similar services to Director Ian Inaba and the Guerilla News Network in their production of "American Blackout," a documentary depicting the work of outspoken, and sometimes vilified, U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney and the voting rights issues surrounding the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.
Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic.
In 2003, Fenwick & West began working with the Samuelson Clinic for Law, Technology and Public Policy at UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt
Hall), the first clinic of its kind in the nation. Through the Clinic, Fenwick & West attorneys work with nonprofit organizations, the
government, and individuals to give a voice to the public interest on cutting edge technology issues.
The Documentary Film The Cockettes. Fenwick & West attorneys worked
with filmmakers David Weissman and Bill Weber on the feature length documentary film about the early 1970's San Francisco theatrical troupe
The Cockettes, which appeared in 2002 in the Sundance Film Festival, the Berlin Film Festival and the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Film
Festival. The film was awarded the Best Documentary Film of the Year by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
VLSP's Low Income Tax Clinic. The Volunteer Legal
Services Program (VLSP) was established by the San Francisco Bar Association in 1977 to provide free legal aid to low-income and
disadvantaged people. Fenwick & West tax attorneys are a major source of volunteer hours for VLSP's Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic, which
handles disputes with the IRS including issues with earned income tax credit, dependency exemptions, head of household filing status,
pension income, independent contractors and other tax issues.
Political Asylum/Immigration
API Legal Outreach (formerly Nihonmachi Legal Outreach).
Founded in 1975, API Legal Outreach has worked against the long-standing barriers that have denied Asian and Pacific Islander people
equal justice and equal access to the legal system. This organization combines the commitment of a non-profit, community-based
organization with the professional services of a law office. Fenwick & West attorneys have worked on a number of cases for AIL Legal
Outreach clients.
Asian Law Alliance's Citizenship Program. The Asian Law Alliance ("ALA") was formed in 1977
by a group of law students from Santa Clara University to provide legal services to the Asian and Pacific Islander communities within
Santa Clara County. Attorneys and support staff assess the eligibility of low-income immigrants for U.S. citizenship, provide assistance
in filling out immigration applications, make referrals to ESL and citizenship classes, inform new citizens and recent immigrants of
their legal rights and responsibilities, and provide general guidance on becoming a U.S. citizen.
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