Pro Bono

In partnership with the ACLU, we filed a class action lawsuit challenging President Trump's executive order restricting immigration from several predominantly Muslim countries and suspending entry of refugees from all countries. The suit alleged that the order was an unconstitutional attempt to discriminate against Muslims, and that the government's actions violated Article I of the Constitution, the First Amendment, the equal-protection and due process rights granted under the Fifth Amendment and the Immigration and Nationality Act.

In this class action impact litigation matter, we represented inmates with mobility disabilities in the Shasta County Jail. The complaint alleged that the Shasta County Jail routinely ignored and failed to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Rehabilitation Act and other federal and state laws, subjecting disabled inmates to rampant discrimination and mistreatment. As the complaint detailed, disabled inmates were routinely denied accommodations, provided inadequate accommodations, inappropriately segregated from the general population, placed in 23-hour lock down, excluded from jail programs and services, and subjected to multiple and pervasive physical access barriers throughout the facilities. After winning class certification, we obtained a sweeping settlement that mandates significant architectural and programmatic reforms, provides for ongoing monitoring, restructures and improves inmate grievance procedures, and requires the County to hire an ADA coordinator to oversee the jail’s compliance with accessibility laws for disabled inmates.

With Asian Americans Advancing Justice and the Asian Law Caucus, we filed suit against the state of Georgia seeking to enjoin its racially discriminatory voting law. Among other problematic provisions, Georgia’s Senate Bill 202 shortens the window to apply for mail-in ballots; restricts access to secure drop boxes; voters to satisfy onerous, unnecessary ID requirements before voting by mail; and prohibits elections officials from proactively mailing ballot applications to registered voters.

With GLAD Law and NCLR, we represent military families challenging the Department of Defense’s sudden decision to prohibit military clinics and hospitals from providing necessary medical care for transgender military dependents. The new policy also prohibits the military’s insurance plan from covering treatment for transgender young adults. We are proud to represent military families seeking to reinstate the healthcare they have relied upon for years.

We obtained our client’s release in a habeas action challenging the Trump Administration’s eleven-month detention of an immigrant youth.

We represented a prisoner who was the victim of a series of coerced sexual acts taking place in San Quentin State Prison in a civil rights case brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Following a six-day federal jury trial, the jury returned a verdict in our client’s favor and awarded him $15,414 in compensatory damages and $50,000 in punitive damages.

Representing the County of Santa Clara, we won a nationwide injunction against President Trump’s 2017 executive order that attempted to defund state and local governments deemed to be “sanctuary jurisdictions.” We argued that the executive order violated the Constitution’s separation of powers, the Tenth Amendment, and the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. In granting the motion for a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Court Judge William H. Orrick determined that the County was likely to succeed on all four of its constitutional claims, and that the County was suffering immediate and irreparable harm. The Ninth Circuit affirmed.

We represented Essential Access Health, California’s primary Title X grantee, in a suit challenging the Trump administration’s draconian family planning regulations as unconstitutional and violative of the Administrative Procedures Act. In April 2019, we won an injunction preventing the regulations from taking effect in California and protecting access to quality reproductive care for the one million Californians who depend on Title X services each year.

We represented a California state prisoner in a civil rights suit against the correctional officers who denied his grievance claims in prison. After the plaintiff's case survived summary judgment, the federal court asked us to step in and represent the plaintiff at trial, thus allowing our client to have his day in court.

In conjunction with the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, California Attorney General’s Office, and Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence we obtained a settlement in a 17200 case where Blackhawk Manufacturing, GS Performance LLC, and MDX Corporation will be permanently prohibited from manufacturing or selling unserialized ghost gun kits in California. The companies will also pay more than $600,000 in civil penalties for violating California and federal law in their manufacturing, advertising, and sale of ghost gun kits and firearm precursor parts.

We represented a California state prisoner in a civil rights suit against a police officer for misconduct in connection with our client’s arrest. After the plaintiff’s case survived summary judgment, the federal court asked us to step in and represent the plaintiff at trial, thus allowing our client to have his day in court.

We represented three immigrant families intentionally separated by the Trump Administration in 2018. Asserting novel claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act, we vigorously pursued the case until the eve of trial, when the government agreed to the largest settlement out of any of the 50 similar cases filed nationwide.

Our client was sentenced to death at age 25 for his participation in a robbery in which his co-defendant unexpectedly shot and killed the victim. After a two-day trial in late 2023—in which the co-defendant testified that he acted entirely alone—the court vacated our client's murder conviction. The prosecution appealed, and the Court of Appeal reaffirmed that the prosecution failed to prove that our client was guilty of murder, and that he was therefore entitled to release, after having spent over 30 years in prison.