Impacting Lives and Communities

Since the firm’s founding in 1931, our pro bono work has been central to our culture. We have focused on helping underserved and vulnerable communities tackle social problems and solve complex legal issues. Through our pro bono efforts, we fight in court to ensure laws are evenly applied. We provide our experience—both as lawyers and as members of our communities—to social service organizations working to create positive change for marginalized groups. We forge alliances with global corporations who share our dedication to increasing equality and opportunity for all. And we come to the aid of individuals who need legal assistance to overcome hurdles and start new lives. We are deeply committed to continuing the tangible progress our pro bono work has made in strengthening our communities.

Debevoise Video Highlights Firm’s Pro Bono Work 2023
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP has produced a new video highlighting the firm’s pro bono program in 2023, including the work that it has done in collaboration with its longstanding legal services partners, clients and non-profit organizations. In 2023, Debevoise lawyers in the U.S. provided over 99,000 hours of free legal services to individuals, nonprofit organizations and low-income entrepreneurs across more than 1,000 matters.

Debevoise Video Highlights Firm’s Commitment to Its Pro Bono Program (2022)

Learn more about the firm’s pro bono program in this video, including the work that it has done in collaboration with its longstanding legal services partners, clients and non-profit organizations.

Debevoise Video Highlights the Firm’s Significant First Amendment Victory (2022)

Earlier this year, a Debevoise team led by litigation partner David O’Neil secured a preliminary injunction against the University of Florida for six professors after the university barred them from offering expert testimony against new policies enacted by the state of Florida. The firm has created a video highlighting this critical First Amendment case and the steps it took to stop the university from suppressing faculty speech.

Debevoise Video Highlights Debevoise Fight for Criminal Justice Reform and Against Racial Inequality (2021)

Debevoise has created a short documentary about The Holloway Project, the firm’s pro bono initiative to fight for criminal justice reform and against racial inequality. The video, “Leveraging The First Step Act to Reduce Excessive Prison Sentences,” highlights the stories of two of 24 incarcerated men for whom Debevoise has obtained reduced sentences. Todd Ellerby and Kevin Haynes were both first-time offenders when over-zealous prosecutors inappropriately charged each man under the § 924(c), which resulted in stacked sentences of over 45 years. In the past 18 months, 181 Debevoise lawyers, led by litigation partner John Gleeson, former U.S. District Court judge, have spent nearly 16,000 hours working with Holloway Project clients. To date, the firm has won 30 cases, and has reduced our clients’ prison sentences by over 1,025 years.

Firm Recognition

Others have taken note of our deep and longstanding commitment to pro bono legal service.

• Debevoise Receives Lawyers Alliance 2023 Institutional Cornerstone Award for Outstanding Pro Bono Legal Services
• Debevoise Pro Bono Project Wins at The PILnet Global Awards
• Debevoise Pro Bono Projects Win at The Lawyer Awards
• Debevoise Partner Mark P. Goodman Receives Servant of Justice Award from The Legal Aid Society
• Debevoise Receives Getting Out and Staying Out 2023 Justice Award
• Debevoise Receives 2022 John H. Pickering Award From the Pro Bono Institute
• Debevoise Recognized with IBA Group Member Pro Bono Award
• Debevoise Named 2022 Pro Bono Innovator by Bloomberg Law
• Debevoise Pro Bono Counsel Jennifer R. Cowan Receives Legal Aid Society Leadership Award
• Debevoise Associate Marisa Taney Receives the Federal Bar Council’s Thurgood Marshall Award for Exceptional Pro Bono Service
• Debevoise Named a 2021 Social Impact Leader by Law360
• Debevoise Receives a 2021 Beacon of Justice Award from NLADA for The Holloway Project
• Debevoise Team Honored by KIND for Outstanding Pro Bono Service
• Debevoise Partner John Kiernan Honored by Volunteers of Legal Services with Lifetime Service Award
• Debevoise Honored by The Legal Aid Society as Recipient of the 2019 Honorable Jonathan Lippman New York Pro Bono Publico and Public Service Law Firm Award

Our Pro Bono Work in Focus

• Debevoise Successfully Advocates for Summary Judgment on Behalf of Acre Road Public Housing Development
• Debevoise and Democracy Forward File Amicus Brief in Support of the Federal Right to Emergency Care, Including Abortion
• Debevoise Video Highlights Firm’s Pro Bono Work
• Debevoise Files Amicus Brief Asking Supreme Court to Preserve Broad Access to Mifepristone
• Debevoise Files Amicus Brief in Support of States’ Suit to Limit FDA Restrictions on Mifepristone
• Debevoise Assists James Beard Foundation in the Opening of New Space at Pier 57 in New York City
• Debevoise Secures Win for Pro Bono Client Wrongfully Convicted of Murder
• New Debevoise Video Highlights Firm’s Commitment to Its Pro Bono Program
• Debevoise’s Katie Power and Olivia Colin Selected to Join Impact 100 London’s “Impactship Programme”
• Debevoise Files Amicus Brief in Support of Checks and Balances for Federal Election Rules on Behalf of Senator Klobuchar and Nineteen Senators
• Debevoise, Legal Action Worldwide, and the Pan-African Lawyers Union Secure Provisional Measures Relief in Landmark Case Against Ethiopia for Human Rights Violations in Tigray
• Debevoise Files Amicus Brief in Fight Against Idaho Abortion Law
• Debevoise Partner David A. O’Neil Argues Before U.S. Supreme Court in Shoop v. Twyford
• Debevoise Wins Motion to Dismiss Ruling for James Beard Foundation
• Debevoise Files Amicus Brief in Support of ALS Patients’ Fight for Equal Rights Under the California End of Life Options Act
• Debevoise and Clooney Foundation Successfully Represent Cambodian Journalist before the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
• Debevoise, Legal Action Worldwide, and the Pan-African Lawyers Union Initiate Landmark Case Against Ethiopia for Human Rights Violations in Tigray
• Seven Leading Law Firms Launch Domestic Abuse Response Alliance
• Debevoise Wins Significant First Amendment Ruling Against the University of Florida
• Debevoise and HRF Secure Withholding of Removal and Asylum for Central American Clients, a Significant Win for Victims of Domestic and Gang-Related Violence and Their Family Members Post Matter of A-B- and Matter of L-E-A-
• Debevoise Files Amicus Brief in Fight Against Texas Abortion Law
• Debevoise Donates $25,000 Across Five Community Organizations on Behalf of Counsel and Associates, as Part of Program to Encourage Pro Bono Legal Services
• Debevoise and Clooney Foundation Welcome the Release of Cameroonian Journalist Paul Chouta After Nearly Two Years in Arbitrary Detention
• Debevoise Secures Pro Bono Victory in Gaining Asylum for a Transgender Woman from Guyana
• Debevoise Obtains Two-Year Extension on Brad H. Class Action Settlement
• Debevoise Volunteers as JCWI Launches Windrush Pro Bono Clinic
• Debevoise Advises The Circle on Proposed EU Legislation on Living Wages and Labour Rights
• Twenty-One Current and Former Debevoise Lawyers Named to 2020 Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll
• Debevoise and CJA Ask U.N. Human Rights Committee to Hold Sri Lanka Accountable for Killing of Acclaimed Journalist
• Debevoise Wins Another Significant FOIA Ruling in Khashoggi Case on Behalf of Open Society Justice Initiative
• Supreme Court Rules Unanimously in Favor of Debevoise Clients, American Muslims Who Were Placed on No-Fly List
• Debevoise Prevails in DC Circuit Court in Border Wall Dispute Involving the North American Butterfly Association
• Debevoise Advises Easy Solar in Closing $5 Million Funding Round to Scale Operations in West Africa
• Debevoise Advises Brooklyn Historical Society in Its Combination with the Brooklyn Public Library
• Debevoise Advises City to Sea as it Relaunches Refill App

Debevoise Partner Winston Paes Featured in the New York Times and CBS New York Debevoise partner Winston Paes was highlighted in the New York Times and CBS New York for the firm’s win on behalf of pro bono client Shamel Capers, which overturned his wrongful conviction for second degree murder, and freed him after eight years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Learn more.

Debevoise Pro Bono Victory for Tysheem McGregor Featured in The American Lawyer

Debevoise Partner David O’Neil Named The American Lawyer’s “Litigator of the Week” for First Amendment Victory

Debevoise’s Efforts to Assist a Family Fleeing Afghanistan Highlighted on CBS News   Debevoise & Plimpton LLP was highlighted in a CBS News segment for its work assisting a vulnerable family that fled Afghanistan to another country in the Middle East in early October. The family members include the firm’s client “Angela” and her 12 year old son, who are both U.S. citizens, and Angela’s mother and two siblings.

Shannon Selden Discusses the Fight for Reproductive Rights with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell Debevoise partner Shannon Rose Selden appeared on MSNBC’s “The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell” to discuss the US DOJ’s challenge to Texas’s abortion ban, and our work opposing the law on behalf of 19 of the nation’s leading medical organizations. In the segment, Ms. Selden discusses some of the many ways the law threatens the health and well-being of women and girls throughout Texas. Watch the full segment here.

Debevoise Honored With CJA “Partner in Justice” Award

Debevoise was honored with the “Partner in Justice” award by the Center for Justice and Accountability for our work towards ensuring perpetrators of atrocity crimes are held accountable. In this video, on behalf of the Debevoise team, partner Catherine Amirfar thanks CJA for the recognition. Debevoise Pro Bono Counsel Jennifer Cowan Discusses Supreme Court Case Tanzin v. Tanvir

In a Legal Talk Today podcast, Debevoise pro bono counsel Jennifer Cowan discusses the importance of the Tanzin v. Tanvir victory in the Supreme Court, in which Debevoise was co-counsel with CUNY School of Law CLEAR Project and the Center for Constitutional Rights, and what it means for religious liberty.