Advancing racial justice: A year after reaffirming its pro bono commitment, Hogan Lovells significantly expands its work on behalf of people of color

The firm is well on its way to meeting this pledge. During the past year, our U.S. offices opened more than 140 new matters focused on combatting discrimination in the areas of criminal justice, housing and economic justice, and voting rights.

Our  U.S. colleagues have surpassed the 36,000-hour mark in relation to this initiative. The firm’s Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Boston offices each have devoted more than 1,000 related hours in 2020.

“As the first major law firm to form a stand-alone pro bono practice more than 50 years ago, Hogan Lovells has a history of fighting for racial justice,” said Pro Bono Partner T. Weymouth. “We know there is much more work to be done and are proud to continue the fight for equality on many fronts.” 

Highlights of our pro bono efforts include:

• We won a $75 million jury verdict on behalf of two brothers who spent 31 years in prison and were sentences to death for a murder they did not commit. 
• Working with the Institute for American Police Reform, we created an interactive map of use-of-force laws throughout the country. 
• With our help, Curtis Flowers is free after a legal battle that spanned more than two decades and an unprecedented six trials. 
• We filed a federal Fair Housing Act lawsuit in Virginia, alleging that a redevelopment plan in Norfolk will illegally force residents into segregated housing, if not out of the city altogether. 
• We launched a project to assist minority-owned small businesses with various legal needs, working with non-profit organizations in a number of U.S. markets. 
• We prevailed in a challenge to a Tennessee third-party voter registration law that made it more difficult to register eligible people of color to vote. 
• We were one of the founding law firms of an effort to boost pro bono representation of residents in Washington, D.C. impacted by COVID. 
• We joined civil rights organizations in a lawsuit seeking better protection of vulnerable people inside East Baton Rouge Parish Prison in the wake of COVID-19. 
• We helped secure freedom for Oscar Lee Brown under the First Step Act after 25 years of incarceration.

In addition to our pro bono efforts, we have teamed with PeaceTech Lab to amplify racial justice work through technology training.

A link to the announcement of our pro bono commitment announced last year is here.