Pro Bono Report (Fall 2013)

In a ruling described by one expert in gender law as “enormously significant,” a Superior Court Judge in Riverside County, Calif., has allowed DWT’s pro bono client Domaine Javier to proceed with her lawsuit against California Baptist University, which revoked her admission to the school after discovering her appearance on a TV show discussing the stigma of being transgender.

DWT associate Paul Southwick is spearheading the suit on Ms. Javier’s behalf. He and partner Timothy Volpert are working in collaboration with Clifford Davidson of Sussman Shank LLP.

Two Davis Wright Tremaine clients were recently granted summary judgment in an important case seeking release of records from the military training school formerly known as the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA).

Working pro bono on behalf of plaintiffs Theresa Cameranesi and Judith Liteky, DWT attorneys Duffy Carolan and Jeff Glasser have been seeking access to the names of those who train and teach at the school, which is presently housed at Fort Benning, Ga.  

When Camille Calman, now an associate in Davis Wright Tremaine’s New York office, first met Ziograin Correa, Jr. in 2010, he was 12 years old and had attended four different public schools in six years. Classified as autistic, Zio simply could not function in classes with as many as two dozen students. He did not have friends and was a target of bullies. He also wasn’t progressing in his studies, and his school was setting goals well below his capabilities. 

For Heidy Gomez Garcia, the need to escape permanently from Venezuela became apparent one night in May 2011, when she and her daughter were riding in the back seat of a car, with her own mother at the wheel. A black SUV with darkly tinted windows pulled up on the left. Suddenly the rear window of the SUV opened and someone inside fired a half-dozen shots, then sped away. Were it not for the spare tire in the trunk, the bullets would have penetrated the car and struck Gomez Garcia and her daughter in the back.

The terrifying night was the culmination of years of intimidation, threats, and abuse, which began after Gomez Garcia resisted attending rallies in support of the government of then-president Hugo Chavez.  

A century after it was founded as a dairy farm in what was then an Oregon logging town, Zenger Farm today is a 6-acre working farm adjoining a 10-acre wetland in the center of urban Portland. Operated as a nonprofit, the farm provides a host of programs to underprivileged kids and adults that promote food awareness, healthy eating, and sustainable agriculture. As the farm embarks this year on a major fundraising campaign to expand its mission, Davis Wright Tremaine has been providing pro bono services, and helping raise the farm’s visibility. 

In May, DWT was pleased to host a training session put on by The Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program, which helps provide legal representation to veterans who’ve had their claims for VA benefits denied, and who are seeking to appeal their case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.