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Volume 20, No. 7 © 2012 The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, Inc. July/August 2012

Jones Day: Pro Bono Without Borders

The Editor interviews Laura Tuell our lawyers spend on On an international level, in addition to Parcher, Firmwide Partner-in-Charge of our pro bono cases PILPG, Lawyers Without Borders is a Pro Bono, Jones Day. count identically to favorite nonprofit. We’ve drawn in lawyers those spent on paying from several of our international and Editor: Laura, you have been Jones cases, both in terms of domestic offices to work together on mod- Day’s firmwide partner-in-charge of pro attorney evaluations ules for the trainings LWOB does in bono since 2008. What are your proud- and the compensation Kenya, and we’re also working on an est accomplishments during this time they receive. We inheritance and succession law project in period? encourage our Namibia. There, when the head of house- lawyers to do pro Laura Tuell hold male dies, all of his assets may tradi- Parcher: Overall there’s been significant bono work and sup- Parcher tionally go to his oldest living relative, who growth in pro bono for the entire firm, port them in the wide range of causes they might be an uncle with no interest in the which has been very rewarding and amaz- choose. wife or the children, resulting in the neglect ing to watch. While I undertake a fair of countless families. LWOB is helping amount of administrative work to manage Editor: What new areas of pro bono has Namibia not only improve its laws to pro- the program, I work with lawyers across the firm participated in over the last two tect these family members but also to edu- the globe who are undertaking increasing years? cate the public and implement more amounts of pro bono work, and seeing the effectively the succession laws they do results of their efforts is inspiring. Parcher: We’ve greatly expanded our have in place. In addition, I’m proud of the way our international rule of law work. We work We also help conduct a training pro- offices collaborate on pro bono cases that primarily with PILPG (Public Interna- gram in Kenya to help over 100 lawyers are significant in scope, allowing them to tional Law and Policy Group) and and judges develop trial advocacy skills. achieve positive outcomes for the client. Lawyers Without Borders, and have done It’s exciting to see people across the world projects for them giving advice on legal Editor: Can you give us an example of working together on a pro bono matter. issues in (among others) Kosovo, Bosnia, an organization you work with in the Tanzania, Libya and Kenya, on areas Washington office, where you are based? Editor: Are there clearly identified pro including juvenile justice, criminal proce- bono goals at the firm? What are the dure, parliamentary procedure and antidis- Parcher: We do a lot of work with the firm’s expectations in terms of pro bono crimination laws. Currently we’re looking Children’s Law Center and have taken hours? at the political structure in Libya to see cases to help children find permanent and whether there are ways that the legislature safe homes. In fact, one of our partners Parcher: Our goal is to create opportuni- can facilitate the development and growth here, Carmen McLean, is being awarded ties so every lawyer can find a pro bono of alternative political parties. Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year this month by project that’s a good fit for him or her per- What’s so interesting about these pro- the DC Bar for developing our relationship sonally, whether it be in an area he or she jects is that often they include a survey of with the CLC. is passionate aboutÐ e.g., discrimination Ð the legal issues in five or six other coun- We also do significant work with Capi- or an opportunity for professional develop- tries. For example, when we were address- tal Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, ment, e.g. learning how to craft an appel- ing antidiscrimination laws for Bosnia and which focuses on detained immigrants in late argument. Herzegovina, we researched the laws in the DC metropolitan area. Because DC has As for hours, our philosophy has Eastern and Western Europe, a task that no airport or prison, immigrants who are always been for lawyers to make their own brought in lawyers from all over the firm. picked up in the region Ð coming through decisions about the amount of pro bono The last two years these international rule the airport or otherwise Ð are detained in work that’s appropriate for them. of law projects have seen Jones Day attor- Maryland and Virginia. CAIR Coalition Every Jones Day office has a partner- neys from San Francisco, San Diego, Los performs “know your rights” presentations in-charge of pro bono responsible for Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Wash- for those immigrants and seeks out pro approving pro bono matters, and my job is ington, New York, Atlanta, London, Paris, bono legal counsel where appropriate. I’ve to coordinate all of those partners. Once Milan and Brussels forming multi-office been on their board of directors for about the firm approves a matter, it’s treated like teams to tackle both domestic and interna- 15 years. any other client matter, and the hours that tional projects. We work closely with the DC Bar as Please email the interviewee at [email protected] with questions about this interview. Volume 20, No. 7 © 2012 The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, Inc. July/August 2012 well and participate in two different free State Department and several other law Fourth Circuit, which actually reversed the clinics on a regular basis with the them. firms, professors, and judges across the Board of Immigration Appeals. To qualify U.S. to create LLM degree opportunities for asylum, you must belong to a “particu- Editor: I imagine that we may be seeing for Afghan lawyers at either a reduced or lar social group” that is being persecuted, more pro bono related to the increased fully subsidized tuition. The commitment and the court concluded that he met the use of detention centers. is that these lawyers will return to definition as being among a group targeted Afghanistan and work to reform the legal by the MS-13 gang for cooperating with Parcher: I imagine so. Virginia has been system there. We’ve been working hard to the government. It was a very important, building facilities in order to house Depart- increase the number of schools that are precedent-setting victory in the immigra- ment of Homeland Security detainees, and giving these opportunities to students. tion community. those numbers have increased every year We’ve also done cases on behalf of we’ve been involved. Currently there are Editor: The firm has been involved with political dissidents; women suffering over 1,000 immigrants detained on any Room to Read, a program promoting lit- female genital mutilation, forced marriage given day in Virginia and Maryland. Immi- eracy in nine countries in Asia and and marital rape; and transgendered immi- grants in detention include arriving asylum Africa. Please give our readers some grants who are persecuted in their home seekers, many of whom are survivors of background of your work with this country. torture, pregnant women or women who organization. I am passionate about asylum cases. My have just given birth, as well as individuals first pro bono case at Jones Day was an who are seriously physically or mentally Parcher: For a few years now, the firm has asylum case for a young Kenyan man, and ill. Many immigrant detainees have lived had a strong relationship with Room to in fact that very client is today an in the U.S. for years and have U.S. citizen Read, an impressive organization that was employee here at Jones Day. spouses and children who suffer tremen- chosen two years ago as the Financial dous hardship as a result of their family Times Nonprofit of the Year. The Jones Editor: That’s amazing. What trends member’s detention and possible deporta- Day Foundation has given grants in the six are you seeing in pro bono work? tion. When these immigrants have no digits for the last three years to Room to relief, CAIR Coalition assists them to Parcher: One of the more exciting areas of return home sooner in the deportation Read to build libraries in India and to give growth is for-profit corporations that exist process so that they spend less time in scholarships for girls in Southeast Asia to solely for the purpose of making a social detention. In other instances, CAIR Coali- attend school. This year we are one of the difference, usually called social purpose tion provides assistance to the immigrants funders helping to launch new programs in and referrals to pro bono lawyers where Indonesia. We’ve sponsored fundraisers corporations, or SPCs. appropriate. for Room to Read in several offices, We helped one such company called Many of the stories will just break your among them Sydney, New York, Boston Embrace. Embrace’s founders, who were heart. For example, we might see a woman and Washington. students, learned that many children die who has lived in the U.S. for more than ten In addition, we have lawyers working every year because of a lack of access to years with two American citizen children on Room to Read intellectual property expensive baby incubators, and so they charged with a crime of moral turpitude for issues, especially trademark infringement, have invented, developed and manufac- shoplifting diapers for her baby. This crime a growing challenge as Room to Read tured an effective incubating pouch that, can make her deportable. There are two expands around the world. Furthermore, when worn by an adult, pulls in the adult’s secure juvenile detention facilities in Vir- Room to Read publishes local language body heat and encircles the child in ginia where youngsters who are unaccom- children’s books (so a child in India, say, warmth. panied and have no one here in the U.S. to can read about other children in India Even though the entire purpose of the look after them are detained. CAIR Coali- rather than New York City), and all of product and company was to save lives and tion visits them, conducts know-your- those books must be copyrighted. not to make a profit, in order for its corpo- rights presentations, finds them lawyers rate structure to work, Embrace was devel- where appropriate and overall helps them Editor: The firm has represented immi- oped as a for-profit company. For-profit understand what their options are. grants seeking asylum. Please describe status aside, because Embrace was trying Many of these children are eligible for one or two of these cases. to manufacture the product at the lowest relief under either asylum, special immi- rate possible, we did their initial work pro grant juvenile visas or special protections Parcher: One of the more interesting bono. Right now there are many such com- for victims of trafficking and crime. cases in the Washington office was the rep- panies being structured either as a multi- resentation of an individual whose family purpose or a for-profit company. Recently, Editor: Have you continued to conduct had fled from El Salvador in response to California and some other states have actu- your program of bringing lawyers from threats from the MS-13 gang and was ally started to draft legislation for such Afghanistan to the U.S. for training? being deported. The father, who had wit- companies that lie somewhere between nessed the murder of a family member by nonprofit and for profit, so this multipur- Parcher: Yes. It’s going to take a long the gang, had agreed to testify in court and pose type of corporation is a huge growth time for the legal system in Afghanistan to cooperate with the government on the area for pro bono. It’s a controversial area improve, but we have recently supple- prosecution of the individual who commit- because people question whether such mented the program and are not only ted the murder. He and his family were work should count as pro bono. For bringing lawyers here but are also working subsequently threatened by the gang, caus- myself, I find it a very exciting Ð and heart- under the Public Private Partnership for ing them to flee to the United States. Their ening – manifestation of our country’s Legal Reform in Afghanistan with the case ended up going all the way up to the entrepreneurial spirit.