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Public Interest Projects

New York Lawyer
August 26, 2005

By Thomas Adcock

Paul Weiss Group Aids Detainee

In a victory for one of the first private law firms to join professors and human rights agencies seeking to aid some 500 detainees at the U.S. military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, a team of attorneys from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison has won freedom for a pro bono client.

The Paul Weiss team -- lead partner Julia L. Tarver and associates Jennifer Ching and Andrea J. Prasow -- prevailed in a habeas petition before the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on behalf of a detainee from Saudi Arabia. The client, an amputee, was transferred on July 20 from Guantánamo to his home country, where he was held briefly by Saudi officials before being released to his family.

Additionally, the Paul Weiss lawyers represent 10 other detainees -- all Saudi nationals, all held virtually incommunicado for three years. One was a juvenile at the time of his detention, said the lawyers, who are partnered with the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights.

In representing the Guantánamo clients, the Paul Weiss team traveled to Bahrain to meet with Saudi relatives of the detainees, and to Cuba for meetings with their clients. The process involved flying more than six hours from the Florida coast to Guantánamo Bay in a six-passenger, prop-engine airplane with no toilet, and a stream of security regulations. For example, the lawyers were forbidden to examine detention documents, all marked "classified" by government authorities, beyond the confines of a single room in Washington.

"I thought I'd been through it all," said Ms. Tarver, who has done previous pro bono work in capital murder cases. But Guantánamo work represents "a whole new level of emotional frustration, and the feeling that you're up against the odds of a mammoth system doing everything it can to impede you."

Cadwalader Teams With Producer

A music producer cheated out of royalties by the singer Ashanti was awarded $630,000 in a federal jury verdict earlier this month in the Southern District, thanks to pro bono attorneys at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft.

Representing producer Gerard Parker on a case referred by Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, lead Cadwalader attorney Jasmine Khalili told jurors, "This case is about abandoning the people who help us succeed."

According to court papers, Mr. Parker worked with Grammy Award-winner Ashanti when she was a teen, helping to develop her vocal talent and producing several songs and a promotional video -- only to be shortchanged later in breach of contract.

Cadwalader associate Jessica Lively second-chaired Ms. Khalili, under the supervision of partner Harry Cohen. Summer associates Anthony Antonelli, Sal Astorina, Gwen Carroll, Anthony Enright and Nazan Riahei also contributed.

Firm Helps With 9/11 Tape Case

Relatives of deceased firefighters who were successful co-plaintiffs in a lawsuit that forced the New York City Fire Department to release thousands of documents and radio transmissions related to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were aided in their cause by a team of pro bono attorneys from Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel.

The Kramer Levin team included partner Thomas L. Moreland and associates Ilyssa B. Sena and Jennifer M. Despins.

On Aug. 12, the Court of Appeals held for plaintiffs in a Freedom of Information Act petition brought by The New York Times. The fire department was obliged to release 9/11 materials that gave family members a sense of the last minutes of their loved ones' lives.

In addition, according to a statement from Kramer Levin, the data provided the public with "vital information regarding the management and effectiveness of rescue operations and safety in high-rise buildings to minimize the loss of life in the event of a future similar catastrophic event or terrorist attack."

Cleary Gottlieb Effort

Working with the Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation, South Brooklyn Legal Services and the West Side SRO Law Project, as well as New York City's Department of Housing Preservation and Development, a team of pro bono lawyers from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton has represented six tenant organizations in eight cases over the past year against landlords found to have shirked their legal obligations in sham filings before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

"If we succeed in making negligent landlords realize that they cannot abuse the system, and recognize that their tenants are not asleep at the switch, then we will have scored a victory," said Cleary Gottlieb partner James L. Bromley.

Mr. Bromley was lead attorney for the team, which included associates Kurt A. Mayr, Sean A. O'Neal, Kelly R. Koyama, Timothy Mehok, Jane Kim, Matthew W. Howard and Laura Forman.

Some landlords sought to transfer their buildings to other substandard landlords in bankruptcy sales without addressing existing violations, said Mr. Bromley. Others, he added, sought to block foreclosures on distressed properties and efforts to provide the tenants the opportunity to purchase renovated apartments.

The tenants -- many low-income non-English speakers -- were often unsure of the identity of their landlords and, in some cases, faced eviction proceedings connected with dubious deed transfers, according to court papers.

In the most recent two cases, the Cleary Gottlieb team helped tenants gain ownership of the Gates-Patchen complex in the Bedford-Stuyvesant district of Brooklyn and prevented improper evictions of Manhattan tenants of 516 West 174th Street.