Latham & Watkins has a long-standing commitment to providing pro bono legal services, financial support and volunteer time to those in our communities most in need. Our Commitment Latham recognizes that as lawyers we have a duty to help ensure that the doors of justice are open to all, regardless of income. By providing free legal services to low-income individuals and nonprofit organizations without the ability to pay, we uphold the traditions of our firm and the ideals of our practice. At Latham, pro bono is central to our culture and an integral part of our practice of law. Our pro bono practice is farreaching, from impact litigation in a variety of areas to transactional counsel on community economic development and nonprofit matters. Our Innovation Taking an innovative approach among law firms, Latham treats pro bono hours the same as commercial billable hours for purposes of associate evaluation, promotion and bonuses, with no cap on pro bono hours. This encourages active participation in our pro bono program and has led to our attorneys, paralegals and professional staff logging more than 128,000 pro bono hours in 2005 alone. Since 2000, Latham has provided more than $200 million in pro bono legal services, including more than $43 million in pro bono work performed by Latham personnel in 2005 alone. Latham & Watkins operates as a limited liability partnership worldwide with an affiliate in the United Kingdom and Italy, where the practice is conducted through an affiliated multinational partnership. Copyright 2006 Latham & Watkins. All Rights Reserved.
Page 2 Our worldwide commitment to pro bono is truly unique. With strong local pro bono programs in eight different countries, as well as a strong international practice that focuses on civil and human rights, matters specific to developing nations and other important global issues, Latham has built one of the largest law firm pro bono practices in the world. Like our commercial clients, our pro bono clients come to us with problems big and small, in nearly every corner of the world. From death penalty work, high-profile First Amendment litigation and nonprofit corporate restructuring in the US, to nation-building in Africa, social entrepreneurship in Europe and asylum work in Asia, our pro bono program crosses almost every area of public interest law and involves litigation, transactional and administrative matters, including: human rights & refugee issues nonprofit corporation counseling & advising assistance to victims of domestic violence children s rights & family law civil rights landlord/tenant issues disability-related cases international law adoption housing discrimination consumer law public benefits homelessness prevention community economic development land use permitting and approvals criminal trial and appellate proceedings Latham is a founding member of the Law Firm Pro Bono Project and Signatory to the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge, which encourages its members to commit to a minimum average of 60 hours of pro bono work per attorney in the United States. The firm has met this Challenge every year since 1999. Representative Pro Bono Activities A Post-Conflict Legal System in the Sudan Over the last year, Latham has been assisting the Civil Authority of the New Sudan (CANS), also known as the Sudanese People Liberation Movement (SPLM), in their nation-building endeavor, helping to establish the rule of law for a new constitutional democracy in Africa. Following an internationally brokered peace agreement signed in January 2005, Latham represented CANS, the new leaders of the recently established Government of Southern Sudan, in efforts to design a post-conflict legal system, including mobilizing a multinational team of more than 50 Latham attorneys spanning nine offices around the world.
Page 3 Child Refugee Project Latham continues to build on our signature Human Rights and Refugee Practice, with an emphasis on representing unaccompanied refugee children. Latham attorneys across the world represent refugees and children in immigration proceedings, and work to improve conditions of detention facilities. In the US, the firm has also provided legislative counsel on child refugee legislation in Congress leading to the adoption of important provisions of the Homeland Security Act, and has worked on impact litigation related to the conditions of confinement of detainees. Protecting a Student s Civil Rights Latham is representing a high school student in her attempts to fight alleged discrimination from her school based on her sexual orientation. The high school junior s sexual orientation was revealed to her parents by the school s principal after she was public with her affection for her girlfriend. She eventually transferred to another public high school. In partnership with the ACLU, Latham is fighting for our client s equal protection, free expression rights and right to privacy. Battling Housing Discrimination For the past year, Latham has worked with HELP USA s Fair Housing Justice Center, in a partnership arranged through New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, to combat housing discrimination in the New York metropolitan area. Outward Bound Corporate Reorganization Latham completed an extensive corporate affiliation transaction for Outward Bound USA, a nonprofit educational organization. A team of corporate and tax attorneys from three separate offices guided Outward Bound through a transaction consisting of the affiliation of six previously independent chartered schools across the United States with the parent entity Outward Bound, Inc. The completion of this transaction marks an historic moment for this highly regarded global outdoor education institution, which can now operate under a single management structure, share resources and administrative services and progress in a more streamlined and coordinated way. Equal Justice Works (formerly NAPIL) Fellowships Latham has a tradition of sponsoring public interest fellows each year through Equal Justice Works, which runs the largest post-graduate legal fellowship program in the United States. Equal Justice Works places recent law school graduates in two-year assignments at public interest organizations where they implement innovative projects addressing pressing community needs. The firm s 2005-2007 fellow works at the Immigrants Rights Project of the National ACLU focusing on issues affecting immigrant day laborers. Our 2006-2008 fellow will be working at the Legal Aid Society assisting families in under-served communities with developmentally disabled children.
Page 4 Awards & Special Recognition Latham has received numerous awards for our pro bono program, including recognition by organizations across the United States. In 2003, the American Bar Association awarded its prestigious Pro Bono Publico Award to the firm, recognizing our pro bono program as one of the very best among all law firms. Latham s most recent pro bono awards include: 2006 Northwestern University School of Law s Children & Family Justice Center Law Firm Award (Chicago) 2006 Five Acres Special Recognition Award (Los Angeles) 2006 The California Lawyer s CLAY Award for Pro Bono/ Public Interest work (San Francisco) 2006 The San Mateo Legal Aid Society s April Pro Bono Honoree (Silicon Valley) 2005 Immigration Lawyers Association s Outstanding Pro Bono Representation Award (D.C.) 2005 Human Rights First s Marvin Frankel Award 2005 Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Keta Taylor Colby Award (San Francisco) 2005 MFY Legal Services Scales of Justice Awards for 68 Latham attorneys (New York) 2005 The San Mateo Legal Aid Society s November Pro Bono Honoree (Silicon Valley) 2005 St. Joseph Center s Community Service Award (Los Angeles) The American Lawyer A-List In 2005, Latham ranked in the top-10 on The American Lawyer s A-List, which ranks the profession s top tier. Pro bono is one of the main factors considered in this ranking. 2005 Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs Outstanding Achievement Award 2005 The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless Pro Bono Award
Page 5 Community Service Efforts Our commitment to the public interest does not end with our extensive pro bono efforts. Latham attorneys serve their communities in ways as varied as their talents and interest, from financial support for a wide variety of charities and service on countless Boards of Directors to volunteer efforts at schools, shelters, clinics and construction sites. For example, one of our Washington, D.C. partners co-founded Buildable Hours, a program in which law firms work with Habitat for Humanity to build homes for deserving low-income families. Each year numerous Latham attorneys and summer associates across our US offices participate in this valuable endeavor. In addition, in 2005 the Latham community contributed in excess of $815,000 to more than 115 organizations aiding relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Through a firm-wide initiative announced soon after Katrina struck in August 2005, the firm matched employee donations dollar-for-dollar. The firm kicked off the program with an initial pledge of $200,000 and is funding two Katrina-related fellowships in the Gulf Coast Region through Equal Justice Works and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. Support for those affected by the disaster also was given on several other fronts, including various pro bono legal assistance initiatives.