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Pro Bono

Quinn Emanuel provides pro bono legal services to individuals and organizations throughout the
world. Here are some examples.

We represented the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) and 37 additional organizations as amici curie, in support of a teacher who alleges he was fired from his job as a teacher at a religious school in retaliation for his holding a student assembly on race.  On appeal, QE argued that: (1) whether the teacher was a “minister” is a fact-intensive inquiry; and (2) an expansive reading of the “ministerial exception” would undermine important anti-discrimination protections for many people who experience significant rates of workplace discrimination.  The 10th Circuit dismissed the school’s appeal, and noted that whether the teacher was a “minister” presented a factual dispute to be resolved at trial, consistent with our amicus brief.

 

Tucker v. Faith Bible Chapel International
We represented an incarcerated individual seeking to overturn three decades-old murder convictions obtained based on coerced confessions. After a 10-month-long suppression hearing in which we introduced voluminous evidence of a pattern and practice of torture by the Chicago Police Department and the specific detectives involved in our client’s interrogation, our client was awarded a new trial.
State v. Ralph Harris
In this pro bono case, we represent Ms. Sarat Marcos Zacarias, a garment worker who worked 14-hour days for several years and was paid slightly over 2 dollars an hour, way below the minimum wages.  We took her case and tried it before the California Labor Commissioner and obtained a judgment of $392,595.15.  As told by our pro bono co-counsel, this judgment is “one of the largest garment victories [she] could remember.
Zacarias v. Aranda’s Apparel, Corp., et al.
Thanks to our representation, Vasya, a 16-year old Ukrainian refugee has been released from the custody of the federal government and reunited with his older brother, who lives in the U.S. Normally children in these circumstances are held in custody for about a month; Olga's intervention helped reduce custodial time to just 1.5 weeks.
Vasyl Zahariuk v. Office of Refugee Resettlement
We defended four immigrant families in unlawful detainer actions in San Francisco Superior Court.  We obtained successful dismissals at the summary judgment stage, and later obtained affirmative rulings from the San Francisco Rent Board confirming that our clients are entitled to stay in their rent-controlled apartments, preventing likely emigration. 
Polk I1, LLC v. Ali Ghaleb