pro bono success stories
Grameen Foundation
Inspired by the work of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and its founder Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Foundation was created to accelerate the impact of microfinance on the world’s poorest people. With tiny loans, financial services, and information and communications technology, Grameen Foundation empowers people, mostly women, to start self-sustaining businesses to pull themselves out of poverty. Based in Washington, D.C., the Foundation’s global network of programs has impacted an estimated 16 million lives in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Middle East. We recently represented the Foundation with its two unsecured financings to microfinance institutions in China, the largest potential microfinance market in the world. We analyzed the Chinese legal system with regard to foreign loans, particularly those to charitable “social entities” in China. We also structured several practical alternatives that may facilitate this complex transaction while still complying with Chinese regulations.
Denise Woo
Former FBI Special Agent Denise Woo, accused of crimes she did not commit, faced more than a dozen years in federal prison. Ms. Woo was indicted for allegedly disclosing classified material to a suspected Chinese spy she was investigating. During the investigation, she became convinced that the man was innocent. When she raised her concerns with supervisors, she became a primary target of the espionage probe. She was charged with five felony counts, including revealing the identity of a covert operative, disclosing a wiretap, and lying to FBI agents. She enlisted our help and, over the course of two years, we uncovered serious weaknesses in the government’s case. Our efforts culminated in a very favorable plea agreement in 2006. The government dismissed the five-count felony indictment in exchange for a plea to a simple misdemeanor, resulting in just a one-year probation and a US$1,000 fine.
Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center
The Tenderloin AIDS Resource Center is a San Francisco-based nonprofit agency that provides a range of essential services to poor people living with or at high risk of contracting HIV and AIDS. The agency, which helps more than 13,000 people annually, was looking to expand and merge with another neighborhood agency. For 10 months, we represented TARC on the transaction, which closed in 2006. The deal created a new agency called “Tenderloin Health” with a budget of more than US$7.5 million and a staff of more than 70.
Hurricane Katrina Victims
We continue to assist evacuees through the Hurricane Katrina Relief Project, an emergency legal aid clinic that serves disaster victims who were evacuated to Southern California. We start by helping evacuees assess their eligibility for various relief and benefit programs. For example, when an instructor at a New Orleans middle school lost his apartment, most of his personal belongings, and his car during Hurricane Katrina, he relocated to Los Angeles to start a new life. We assisted him, and many others, in finding housing and obtaining reimbursement for his property loss. As part of our disaster-relief initiative, we also participate in a project for the Mississippi Center for Justice. We conduct research and write legal memoranda for the Center relating to various legal issues arising after Katrina, including notice requirements for mobile home evictions, structuring rent escrow accounts for needed repairs, automobile salvage title disclosure requirements, and matters concerning child custody.
The Brennan Center for Justice, the National Council of La Raza, and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
We are counseling these civil rights organizations regarding certain aspects of immigration reform legislation under consideration by the US Congress. Our lawyers analyzed the legislative history of the provisions that seek to establish English as the national language and evaluated their potential impact on federal funding for programs that assist individuals with limited English proficiency. We will continue to provide strategic counseling support to these organizations as the proposed laws make their way through the legislative process.
Low-Income Tenants Harassment
When a landlord unleashed a campaign of harassment and intimidation against low-income tenants living in a dilapidated apartment building in Los Angeles, O’Melveny came to their aid. The landlord demanded rent that exceeded legal maximums under applicable rent control laws and, when the tenants refused to pay the illegal additional amounts, he tried to evict them. We served as co-counsel in a suit brought by four tenants who alleged malicious prosecution and abuse of process, among other causes of action. Our legal team, working in conjunction with the pro bono legal services organization Bet Tzedek, prevailed in a three-day bench trial that yielded compensatory damages of US$94,000. We also proved that the landlord acted with "malice, oppression, or fraud," entitling our clients to an additional US$100,000 in punitive damages.