Pro Bono

Hanson Bridgett encourages its attorneys to provide service to the community as a part of their professional responsibility, as members of the bar and more importantly to contribute to those in need. The firm leadership is committed to providing legal services to the communities it serves and embraces what it sees as its obligation to provide pro bono legal counsel to worthy causes. We also believe that the establishment and maintenance of an organized, firm-sponsored pro bono program is critical to supporting and enabling our attorneys to develop a robust pro bono practice.

Pro bono work is an integral part of our practice. Last year, over 50 percent of our attorneys participated in pro bono matters. As a concrete investment in our pro bono program, the firm credits up to 150 pro bono hours to each associate's total billable hour requirement and the firm contributes financially to all of our referral organizations.

Our pro bono program focuses on the representation of individuals, organizations and businesses that cannot readily afford the cost of legal representation. Our attorneys' expertise and commitment enable us to handle a wide range of pro bono litigation and transactional matters comprehensively and compassionately.

Last year, our pro bono activities included not only ongoing participation with the firm's seven pro bono partner organizations, but also assisting over 25 additional worthy organizations with their legal challenges.

Pro Bono Recognition

• In May 2007, Hanson Bridgett attorneys Jordan Lavinsky, Hussein Saffouri and Julie Veit were honored with the 2006 Wiley W. Manuel Award from Legal Aid of Marin/Marin County Bar Association. The award honors outstanding contributions of pro bono service to low income and elderly residents of Marin County. The Wiley W. Manuel Award was established in 1989 to honor the late Justice Manuel, who served as a California Supreme Court Associate Justice from 1977-1981. Justice Manuel's legal career and his personal life were marked by a dedication to hard work, public service and the concept of equal justice for all segments of society. This is the sixth year in a row that members of the firm have been honored with the award.
• Hanson Bridgett partner John Adkisson received the service achievement award from the Capital Unity Council in recognition of years of volunteer legal and program contributions to the planned Capital Unity Center. The Capital Unity Center will be located in downtown Sacramento near the California State Capitol. The Center will offer an experiential, inspirational encounter filled with interactive audio and visual media for youth and families, encouraging them to learn about the diversity of our community and to expand their understanding of the world around them. As General Counsel to the Capital Unity Council, Adkisson has been an active participant in all planning phases of the project, helping to move the Center forward.

Pro Bono Highlights

• Starting in 2000, Hanson Bridgett teamed with Legal Aid of the North Bay to fight the corporate owner of the Contempo Marin Mobilehome Park in San Rafael for charging illegal rent increases and for maliciously retaliating against the nearly 400 low-income seniors and families living at the Park for asserting their rights under local rent control laws. After several years of litigation in which Hanson Bridgett consistently prevailed against the park owner, we ultimately were able to settle the case on terms very favorable to the Park residents.
• We recently completed a partnership with Legal Aid of Marin where Hanson Bridgett "loaned" one of our associates to work for Legal Aid full time for two months. Legal Aid of Marin provides representation primarily to parents, and also to children, in juvenile dependency cases. Our associate provided direct representation to clients in dependency proceedings, which included representing clients in hearings and settlement conferences. In one case, our attorney represented a mother who was at risk of having her child permanently taken away due to her past experience with substance abuse. After putting on a case with convincing testimony from the mother and her counselors, the judge ruled in favor of returning the child to his mother.
• We represented a domain name owner in a domain name arbitration proceeding before the National Arbitration Forum. Our client hosted a web site devoted to the activities of a musical group. In his defense we argued that fan sites are a protected fair use of a band's name both under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy and more broadly under the First Amendment. The arbitration panel found that our client's use of the domain name did not violate the band's rights and our client himself had rights or legitimate interests in the domain name because the operation of a fan website was a legitimate noncommercial or fair use.
• We represented a minor student who was recommended for expulsion from his school district. At the initial expulsion hearing, the District voted to expel the minor and proceeded accordingly. We appealed the District's decision to the County Board of Education. On appeal, the County Board voted to reverse the District's decision to expel and affirmed the appeal. The minor was thereafter allowed to return to a school in his District. The expulsion was reversed on the basis that the minor had been denied the right to confront and cross-examine the victim-police officer at the expulsion hearing. The student and his family were overjoyed with this positive result.
• Through the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights, Asylum Project we worked on an asylum case for a transgender individual from Mexico, was persecuted in her country for being gay and dressing as a woman. She received regular beatings by strangers and family members alike and was also repeatedly sexually assaulted. She eventually fled Mexico to the United States. We helped her apply for asylum in the United States. She is currently waiting to receive the results of her asylum application. In the meantime, we helped her obtain an Employment Authorization card, which will allow her to work in the United States while her asylum application is pending.
• We are currently working to establish a non-profit organization in the United States to assist abused Indian women in healing and ultimately gaining independence. In the early stages of formation, the non-profit will support the Ankur Kala Women's Centre in Calcutta, India, and possibly other women's groups benefiting the Indian population. The non profit organization is the brainchild of longtime Ankur Kala supporter Edward Edwin, a Sacramento resident with family ties to India.
• We have assisted Homeward Bound with drafting their commercial leases. Homeward Bound is the chief provider of transitional and long-term housing and support services for homeless people in Marin County. They provide a safe place to stay for approximately 1,400 people, including about 200 children, each year in 10 residential programs. All their services, including job training, counseling and education, aim at "opening doors to safety, dignity, hope and independence."

Hanson Bridgett's creditable hour pro bono policy is not limited to matters provided by the organizations named above. Our attorneys have participated in numerous other pro bono activities. For example, among other things, the firm participated in Fred Korematsu's petition to vacate his 1942 conviction. See Korematsu v. United States, 584 F.Supp. 1406 (N.D. Cal. 1984). More recently, we participated with the ACLU as amici before the United States Supreme Court in a challenge to the constitutionality of Arizona's "English-only" constitutional initiative. Other examples of pro bono services reflect the individual interests of our attorneys and include activities on behalf of the independence of the judiciary; representation of the Lamplighters, the Traveling Jewish Theatre and the Black Coalition of AIDS; litigation concerning patients' rights, environmental issues and historic building preservation; participation in the Asian American Bar Association Legal Clinic (hosted by the Asian Law Caucus); and participation on the Bar Association of San Francisco AIDS, Immigration and Homeless Advocacy panels.