2021 Pro Bono & Social Impact Report by Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

2021 Pro Bono & Social Impact ReportDAVIS WRIGHT TREMAINE LLP

This increased need to meaningfully access the justice system was exacerbated by the pandemic, the summer of racial reckoning, and humanitarian disasters all around the world. And yet the dedication of hours and effort in 2021 by attorneys and professional staff at DWT remained strong, despite the firm having one of its busiest billable years in history.

This report highlights some, but not all, of the pro bono and social impact work accomplished in 2021. At a high level, it powerfully reflects how devoted DWT is to giving back to our communities, how hard our attorneys fight for the causes they are passionate about, and how determined we are as a firm to provide equitable access to justice to all, especially those who cannot afford it.

Scott W. MacCormack Firmwide Managing Partner Chief Pro Bono and Social Impact Officer

Hopefully this report will leave you inspired, encouraged, and proud to work with and for a law firm that values and champions justice so deeply. Undoubtedly, the need will continue to be tremendous, but so will our resolve to doing good in the world.

In most years, the need for pro bono assistance is extraordinary. There are always people, families, causes, or constituencies that desperately need pro bono legal representation, and 2021 was no exception.

We’re honored to offer this report as a tribute to Karen’s life of achievement, caring, and service.

As a lawyer, Karen always made time to give back to those who needed assistance the most. Her many honors included an “Outstanding Public Service Award” from the Los Angeles County Bar Association, recognizing her successful effort to win asylum for a Salvadoran man who faced threats on his life for his sexual orientation. She was also honored by the city of Compton, Calif., for her work organizing expungement clinics that helped dozens of residents remove barriers to employment. “It was evident that you were truly led by love to touch the lives of our community through service,” wrote the mayor of Compton in a tribute letter. Through the Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, Karen participated in a mentoring program at a South Central L.A. high school much like the one she attended. As she said at the time: “We’re there to show these students that there are avenues available to them and that their current circumstances don’t have to define their future.”

In Memoriam

This report is dedicated to the memory of Karen Henry, counsel in our Los Angeles office, who graced our firm for two decades and passed away unexpectedly this year.

Thomas R. Burke Chair, Pro Bono & Social Impact Committee

4 Content Voting Rights Art in PandemicaFightingEra For AccountabilityEnforcementLawFightingCommunitiesMarginalizedforHousing CrisisSocialSustainabilitySpotlight:ImpactCorporatePartnershipsGiving BackSpeech Rights andTheProtectingMediaAwardsRecognition&Race, Equity & Justice 5 28 16 39 9 31 20 43 14 35 26

Voting rights are essential to preserving and protecting our democracy. In 2021, Davis Wright Tremaine attorneys and staff devoted 1,740+ hours to the effort to preserve and expand the right to vote nationwide.

Voting Rights

Challenging Voter Suppression in Georgia

In 2021, Georgia passed a law (SB 202) with the intent and effect of making it more difficult for eligible voters, and especially voters of color, to participate in our democracy by voting in elections. Partnering with the Southern Poverty Law Center, the ACLU, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and WilmerHale, DWT brought suit to enjoin and bar enforcement of that statute on behalf of Georgia voters and voting rights organizations. The right to vote is the most basic foundation of our democracy and DWT is committed to promoting fair and open elections consistent with our democratic values, including by bringing actions like this one.

Team: Adam S. Sieff, Erika A. Buck, Brittni Hamilton, Grace Thompson, Kate H. Kennedy, Matthew Jedreski

Racial equity, access to justice, and the right to vote are core values DWT attorneys are committed to advancing and protecting. DWT was honored to have been a part of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals victory last year that upheld the injunction blocking an Indiana voter purge law. The law would have allowed county elections officials to kick voters off the rolls immediately without their explicit consent or notice and an opportunity to correct the record. The DWT team joined the ACLU Voting Rights Project, ACLU of Indiana, and Demos in litigating the case.

Upholding Voting Rights in Indiana

Team: Matthew Jedreski, Kate H. Kennedy, Grace Thompson

DWT worked with the League of Women Voters to research and analyze the latest voting rights laws enacted in Texas and the impact they have on voters.

DWT held a Day of Service with volunteers from client JP Morgan Chase to help restore voting rights for eligible, incarceratedpreviouslycitizens.

You offer a shining example of the role that the private bar must play to promote justice and equality at moments like this.”

DWT hosted a letter-writing social impact event with VoteRiders to contact Georgia voters affected by new voter ID requirements and provide information on how to obtain acceptable forms of identification.

Power Behind the Vote

The team of Allison A. Davis and Chris Swift, in partnership with the Brennan Center for Justice, filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee in support of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, prohibiting racially discriminatory voting practices.

DWT sent a team to Georgia to serve as on-the-ground Election Protection volunteers to help voters at the polls, while additional volunteers assisted with the remote Election Protection hotline.

— Brennan Center for Justice

Fighting for Law Enforcement Accountability

LAPD’s Abuse of Social Media

Team: Selina MacLaren (now at ABC News), Thomas R. Burke

Uncovering10

With few controls, law enforcement officials are increasingly monitoring social media for criminal investigations and to surveil activists and protestors. With help from DWT, the Brennan Center for Justice sought to shed more light on this disconcerting activity, which has serious privacy and First Amendment implications. Last year, DWT filed a California Public Records Act lawsuit seeking to uncover information about the LAPD’s social media monitoring. The results made international headlines and resulted in demands from Facebook that LAPD stop misusing its service.

Although these centers raise many civil rights and privacy concerns, Oregon TITAN regularly spies on law-abiding individuals exercising their constitutional rights to free speech and assembly, without any legislative authorization or oversight.

The Oregon TITAN Fusion Center is one of 80 domestic intelligence “clearinghouses” that make up the National Network of Fusion Centers, which were established post-9/11 to combat terrorism by collecting, analyzing, merging, and disseminating domestic “intelligence.”

Challenging Unlawful Surveillance in Oregon

Attorney: Tim Cunningham

On behalf of indigenous rights, social justice, and environmental advocates, DWT filed suit seeking to end Oregon TITAN’s unlawful operations. The suit is a partnership between DWT, the Policing Project at NYU School of Law, and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP.

Team: Thomas R. Burke, Selina MacLaren (now at ABC News)

Clemency Transparency in California

Clemency is one of the most extraordinary powers granted to a governor. Yet in California, the process has been shrouded in secrecy due to the governor’s decades-long practice of automatically sealing clemency files submitted to the state Supreme Court (which must approve clemency for any twice-convicted felon). Following two-anda-half years of litigation pursued by DWT’s team on behalf of the First Amendment Coalition, the Supreme Court announced a rule change last year to make it easier for the public to view these files and ensure greater transparency in future clemency proceedings.

Promoting12

Team: Robert D. Balin, Abigail Everdell, Kathleen E. Farley, Alexandra M. Settelmayer, Nimra H. Azmi, Megan Duffy

Image Adam

Holding13 the NYPD Accountable

Journalists have a fundamental right to record police officers engaged in their official duties in public places. This is why DWT represents five prominent news photographers who seek to hold the New York City Police Department accountable for the beatings, arrests, and harassment journalists experienced while covering racial justice protests in the summer of 2020, violating their First Amendment rights. In 2021, DWT partnered with the National Press Photographers Association to lead litigation that has been consolidated with more than a half dozen other civil rights cases arising from the NYPD’s behavior during the George Floyd protests.

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Housing Crisis

In times of rapid economic growth, it’s critical to care for the unhoused. Since late 2018, DWT has proudly assisted Congregations for the Homeless (CFH) in projects that are critical to serving men experiencing homelessness in Seattle’s fast-growing Eastside suburbs. Initially, DWT attorneys helped CFH modify its lease with the city of Bellevue and negotiate tenant improvement construction contracts, enabling CFH to offer shelter services year-round. DWT then helped CFH secure a site and financing for construction of a new, permanent men’s shelter. Three years later, in August 2021, the complex acquisition and financing was successfully concluded with CFH’s purchase of a vacant, surplus land parcel owned by King County. Groundbreaking took place in January 2022. This new men’s shelter will be the first of its kind in Bellevue, Washington.

Team: James A. Greenfield, Warren Koons, David J. Ubaldi, Jonathan A. DeMella, Brian D. Hulse, Nancy A. Brownstein, Marjan Foruzani (now at Unico Properties)

Finding Shelter in a Booming Suburb

DWT has helped companies of every size, industry, and geography participate meaningfully in pro bono work by either collaborating with them on matters and legal clinics, or by advising them on how to structure and scale their legal department’s internal pro bono programming. Law360 highlighted DWT’s leadership in this area in a feature story last October.

Creating strategic partnerships with clients is one of the most important ways that we expand access to pro bono services nationally.

Corporate Partnerships

Educational Programming and Video Series for In-House Attorneys

DWT created a first-of-its-kind educational program called the In-House Pro Bono Summit to help in-house legal departments understand how to engage in pro bono work per the rules of professional conduct and in alignment with their company priorities, values, and resources. Now in its fourth year, the Summit also helps guide in-house legal teams on how to successfully structure and scale their internal pro bono programs. Representatives from more than 100 companies took part in the 2021 event.

In-House Pro Bono Summit

DWT supplements the Summit with a Pro Bono Ethics CLE, which DWT frequently provides to clients at their request. DWT also launched a firstof-its-kind learning platform called “In-House Insights.” This video series covers a broad range of topics and features some of the best in-house pro bono programs coast-to-coast.

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— Law360

Collaborations19

DWT has also launched major, ongoing pro bono partnerships with some of the largest companies in the world. One example is DWT’s innovative collaboration with Microsoft called the Protecting Journalists Pro Bono Program (ProJourn). ProJourn pairs attorneys from DWT’s nationally renowned media practice with attorneys from Microsoft’s in-house legal department to provide legal advice and consulting to small newsrooms and local journalists. ProJourn volunteers focus on three critical areas: pre-publication review, access to public records, and subpoena defense. Together, the teams have collaborated on dozens of matters and made possible local reporting that is essential to preserving our democracy.

With In-House Legal Departments

Impressed with this pioneering model and its ability to deliver high-value support to an underserved constituency, in 2021 the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation awarded ProJourn a $249,000 grant to hire a full-time Pro Bono Director and expand the program from a regional pilot to a national network. Flavie Fuentes, a recognized leader in managing pro bono programs, has joined the program in that role.

Davis Wright is at the forefront of efforts by a few law firms to engage in pro bono partnerships with corporate legal departments in a continued, sustained way.”

Speech Rights and Protecting the Media

The DWT team helped WeChat users win a preliminary injunction, arguing, in part, that the ban was a prior restraint on speech and violated users’ First Amendment rights, and that the government had not demonstrated a flat ban was necessary to address any purported threat. The district court granted a nationwide injunction against the Executive Order and the Administration appealed.

President Trump’s WeChat Ban

The U.S. has never shut down a major platform for communications—not even in wartime, but that is exactly what President Trump sought to do in 2020. Citing national security, he issued an Executive Order prohibiting any “transaction” with the Chinese super-app WeChat, on which 19 million people in the U.S. rely daily for Chinese-language news, social media, phone calls, and more.

Defeating21

Team: David M. Gossett, Thomas R. Burke, John M. Browning, Courtney T. DeThomas

Following the 2020 election, the Department of Justice under President Biden formally withdrew the Executive Order and the case settled. Joining DWT in representing WeChat users were attorneys from Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP, DeHeng Law Offices PC, and AFN Law PLLC.

Team: Thomas R. Burke, Ambika Kumar, Brendan Charney, Jennifer K. Chung, Noel Nurrenbern, Andrew G. Row

Team: Adam I. Rich, Robert D. Balin

In a retaliatory lawsuit directed at a nonprofit journalism organization, a former coal baron sued the website Decolonial Atlas after it included him on a list about the Top 100 People Killing the Planet. The content of the article was protected speech by virtue of being substantially true and/or opinion and a federal judge granted the client’s motion to dismiss. Given the limited financial resources of Decolonial Atlas, it is likely they would have been unable to mount an effective defense without DWT’s pro bono assistance.

Resisting Efforts to Destroy an Investigative Nonprofit

The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR)’s Reveal has been an essential journalistic voice in the U.S. for the past five decades. When Reveal questioned the legitimacy of an international charity called Planet Aid, which was established to support impoverished farmers in Malawi, Reveal found itself fighting for survival.

Defending Environmental Journalism

After Reveal’s 18-month investigation, numerous articles, and broadcasts, Planet Aid filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit for libel and litigated the matter aggressively, with discovery unfolding over two years and encompassing hundreds of thousands of documents plus audio recordings of 200 interviews conducted worldwide. As CIR’s insurance dwindled, DWT and Covington & Burling LLP kept the newsroom alive by taking the matter on pro bono and then winning a crucial anti-SLAPP motion in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, resulting in the plaintiff’s complaint being dismissed with prejudice. The case is now before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Undoing23

DWT represented an independent filmmaker in the case that was backed by a host of amici, including the National Press Photographers Association. The case is currently on appeal before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In what The Hollywood Reporter called “a huge win for filmmakers,” the DWT team successfully challenged federal rules that require a permit and payment of fees for commercial filming on National Park Service land. District of Columbia federal Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly found the requirements were not content-neutral and not narrowly tailored to achieve the government’s interest in protecting the parks—especially in an age when you can shoot high-quality video with nothing more than a smartphone.

Team: Robert Corn-Revere, Patrick J. Curran Jr., Ronald London (now with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education)

Unconstitutional Limits on Filming

Combating Limits on In-School Speech

Communities across the nation are fighting over what speech will and won’t be permitted in public schools. Last year, members of the school board in Newberg, Oregon, directed the school superintendent to remove all Black Lives Matter displays and LGBTQ+ Pride flags from school property. Following a letter from the ACLU of Oregon and a team from DWT threatening litigation, the board voted to rescind the directive and replace it with a vague policy prohibiting displays that indicate “support or opposition” on a “political” or “controversial” topic.

DWT and the ACLU filed suit on behalf of an educator in the district seeking a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief, underscoring the need for displays that affirm diverse student identities. In a recent cross-motion for summary judgment, the DWT and ACLU team asserted that the district’s policy facially violates the Oregon Constitution, which protects free expression even more broadly than the First Amendment.

Team: Alan Galloway, Meagan A. Himes, Mark Trinchero, Seth “Moe” Tangman, David MacKenzie

Team: Robert Corn-Revere, Caesar Kalinowski IV

In 2021, DWT submitted amicus briefs in important cases that helped strengthen First Amendment rights, including the following:

In the 11th Circuit, DWT represented a diverse group of civil liberties organizations supporting an inmate plaintiff and helped secure an en banc decision that inmates suing under the Prison Litigation Reform Act need not prove physical injury to seek punitive damages. The DWT team argued that: “The need for punitive damages is accentuated in cases like this, where it is proven that officers threatened a prisoner in retaliation for filing grievances.” Hoever v. Marks, et al.

Team: Caesar Kalinowski IV, Bruce E. H. Johnson, Jordan Harris

Friends of the Court Giving a Voice to the Causes: Amicus Briefs

In the U.S. Supreme Court, DWT represented a pair of siblings, Mary Beth and John Tinker, who were key litigants in a landmark 1969 student speech ruling and who, 50 years later, supported a Pennsylvania teen who successfully argued that she should not be punished by her school for her off-campus speech. Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L.

Race, Equity & Justice

In partnership with the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and the ACLU of Washington, DWT filed suit on behalf of Elshieky and a fellow plaintiff, Andres Sosa Segura, alleging that the CBP agents violated their rights. The federal government failed in its effort to get the suits dismissed and last year agreed to pay both men $35,000 each for their wrongful detention and interrogation.

Confronting DiscriminatoryCBP’sPractices

Team: Jennifer K. Chung, Benjamin Robbins, Jordan Harris, Ken Payson

Returning home from a stand-up show one evening, comedian Mohanad Elshieky, an asylee, was pulled off a Greyhound bus and interrogated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, who accused him of having fake immigration papers and being “illegal.” The incident was part of a pattern of discriminatory behavior by CBP, in which agents targeted people of color on Greyhound buses at the Spokane Intermodal Center.

Art in a Pandemic Era

the Music Playing

Keeping29

Among COVID-19’s countless impacts was its devastating effect on the arts world. The careers and livelihoods of working artists were severely impacted when live performances were suspended due to mandated pandemic protocols. Seattle-based KEXP, which operates one of the most influential, listener-supported radio stations in the world, both online and on-air, had to pivot quickly. In place of its renowned Live on KEXP studio sessions, which feature local and touring artists, the station developed a new Live At-Home program, in which bands made live recordings from their homes. The DWT team helped the station navigate the critical IP ownership and licensing issues that arose from this shift in format.

Attorney: Jeff Nelson (now in solo practice)

Team: Allison A. Davis, Jean L. Tom, Sheila Fox Morrison

Assisting an Extraordinary Memorial

Taking its name from an epithet used by Donald Trump at a presidential debate with Hillary Clinton, Nasty Woman Press is a nonprofit publisher founded to fight bigotry in all its forms. DWT helped establish the organization as a 501(c) (4) organization, provides copyright work, and assists Nasty Woman Press with other issues as they arise. Nasty Woman’s first book, Shattering Glass, was honored last year by the Anthony Awards, which annually recognize the best achievements in mystery and crime fiction. DWT attorney Allison A. Davis was also a contributor to the volume, which won Best Anthology.

Supporting a Publisher Advancing Women’s Rights

Team: Bob Wyman, Michelle R. Bowling, Megan K. Claydon (now with Conde Nast), Caitlin Forsyth, Jeff Nelson (now in solo practice), Lauren Schulz, Jonathan Segal, Cheryl Wei

How can anyone capture the scale and heartbreaking loss of the COVID-19 tragedy? The social action artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg created a stunning installation on the National Mall and DWT was honored to support her work by providing crucial legal services, such as contract review, IP work, and negotiation assistance that helped bring the memorial to the community. The exhibit featured 670,000 white flags commemorating each American life lost to COVID-19 at the time of the installation.

Fighting for Marginalized Communities

31 31

DWT was able to quickly secure a ruling that temporarily enjoined this unlawful behavior and last October the judge made the injunction permanent. She wrote that Planned Parenthood “has a clear and equitable right to provide, and its patients have clear and equitable rights to seek or obtain, health care unimpeded by unlawful acts of others.”

Team: Joseph Reece (retired), Anne Marie Tavella, Barbara Simpson Kraft, Christine Parkins Johnson, Robert G. Homchick

Defending Reproductive Rights

In 2020, together with Legal Voice, DWT filed a complaint on behalf of Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho to protect patients who were being harassed by demonstrators outside a Spokane health center. As noted in the complaint, more than a quarter of the patients served by the clinic are BIPOC and already face substantial barriers to accessing healthcare. The monthly, abusive demonstrations were causing undue stress on the patients and disrupting clinic operations, which was in violation of Washington law.

Team: James C. Grant, Victoria Slade, Andrea Cariño

Strengthening LGBTQIA+ Health Services

When a physician-owned community clinic in Anchorage started facing financial hardship, a long-established nonprofit advocacy group known as Identity, Inc., saw an opportunity to acquire the clinic and use its tax-exempt status to obtain grants and other financial assistance that would make the clinic viable once more. With the DWT team’s help, the first nonprofit health clinic specifically dedicated to serving Alaska’s LGBTQIA+ community opened last year.

Supporting33

Survivors of Sex Trafficking

DWT hosted a CLE training for over 60 DWT and client participants on the negative consequences that criminal convictions have on survivors of sex trafficking. The training kicked off with Legal Hope announcing a special partnership with DWT to create a national bench book to educate judges on the impact convictions have on sex trafficking survivors, the racial equity implications caused by these convictions, and the trauma suffered by survivors as a result. Event speakers included Ariana Orford, executive director of Legal Hope, and Benjamin Gauen, human trafficking lead at the King County Prosecutor’s Office. DWT attorneys, alongside four client partners, have been writing the chapters of this bench book, which is ongoing.

DWT’s client was 27 years old when he was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole under Washington state’s “Three Strikes” policy. But in 2021, the state removed robbery in the second degree from the list of offenses that qualify as a strike. By then, the client was more than two decades into his sentence and had turned his life around, boasting an exemplary prison record, filled with examples of personal growth and mentoring. The DWT team represented him in connection with a motion (filed jointly with the King County Prosecuting Attorney) for resentencing. On July 9, 2021, the court approved the request, resulting in the client’s immediate release based on time served, as well as waiving all his restitution and other legal financial obligations. DWT is extremely proud to have helped give him the well-earned opportunity to rebuild his life outside of the prison system.

Helping a Veteran Feel Heard

Securing Freedom and a Second Chance for a Life Transformed

Team: Daniel M. Waggoner, Nicholas Scholten, Tyler Quillin (now at Microsoft), Boya Gou

On Veterans Day 2020, DWT sent out a firmwide invitation with opportunities to help veterans. Although Nancy A. Brownstein had never handled a veteran’s case before, she wanted to make a difference to this constituency and accepted a client through the National Veterans Legal Services Program. The client, who had been struggling for decades with PTSD after being sexually assaulted during basic training, was unsuccessful in working with the Veterans Administration to access the requisite resources she needed from the organization. After months of effort, in 2021, Nancy was able to win a very significant increase in her client’s disability benefits. “She’s been struggling with this for years and always felt nobody was listening to her,” says Nancy. The decision from the Board of Veterans’ Appeals has significantly increased the veteran’s quality of life, but most of all, says Nancy, “she felt heard.”

Social Impact SustainabilitySpotlight:

Team: Craig Gannett, Anna Fero, Walker Stanovsky, Judy Pau, Derek D. Green, Patrick J. Ferguson, Katie E. Jorrie, Gerald F. George

The Sabin Center project is critical to addressing climate change because without well-accepted legal pathways, even the best policies will not be implemented within the short timeframe dictated by the climate science.

As part of a program sponsored by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, DWT’s energy lawyers recently developed a model state law for retail electricity supply that would achieve three goals: eliminate coal-fired resources by 2026, achieve greenhouse gas (GHG) neutrality by 2030, and make the system GHG-free by 2045.

Decarbonization is perhaps the most pressing issue of our time. With the outlook uncertain for comprehensive federal climate legislation, states across the country are increasingly exercising their authority to decarbonize the electricity serving their constituencies. Since electricity moves across state lines, a consistent approach is essential.

Forging36 Legal Pathways to Decarbonization

Delivering37 Water to Those Who Need It Most

DWT’s client Powwater believes in the power of water. The company founders got their start in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with a plan to fund clean-water projects in Africa and Asia through the sale of stylish water bottles and tumblers. The company has since shifted its focus and strategy to providing infrastructure for clean water delivery. Organized as a Public Benefit Corporation, Powwater has launched an app that allows consumers to connect with suppliers and transporters of high-quality drinking water. Currently available in Mombasa, Kenya, where the founders are now based, the Powwater service—with significant backing from several investors including the Gates Foundation—is expanding elsewhere in Africa to provide access to clean drinking water to in-need communities.

Team: Nicholas A. Giannasca, Kevin F. Saer, Zachary Allen, Kate Berry, Aakshita Bansal, S. Knute Gregg, Allie Schwenn, Jean L. Tom, G. Roxanne Elings, David L. Cromwell, Kraig L. Marini Baker, Orrin A. Falby

DWT’s Sustainability Committee hosted Alice C. Hill, David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment at the Council on Foreign Relations and former special assistant to President Obama, where she served as senior director for resilience policy on the National Security Council. Alice discussed her work, which focuses on the risks, consequences, and adaptation strategies associated with climate change, and participated in an engaging conversation with Craig Gannett.

Honoring38

Cleanup Day, Earth Day, and Other Sustainability Efforts

In celebration of Earth Day, DWT’s Sustainability Committee welcomed Microsoft’s Elizabeth Willmott for a conversation on Microsoft’s carbon program and what companies and individuals can do to address climate change. DWT’s Thomas R. Burke and Craig Gannett helped lead the discussion. Barrie K. Handy organized the event.

Two additional sustainability-related events were featured in 2021: Thomas R. Burke led a discussion with firm client, Nicole Rycroft, Founder and Executive Director of Canopy Planet, which preserves first-growth timber by using sustainable alternatives. Nicole shared how they work with the forest industry’s largest customers, from book publishers and printers to leading clothing brands to fashion designers and their suppliers, to protect these last frontier forests.

As part of DWT’s ongoing commitment to sustainability, the Sustainability Committee issued a firmwide challenge to participate in local park and coastal cleanups in honor of International Coastal Cleanup Day. Teams in San Francisco gathered to pick up garbage and litter at Ocean Beach. Seattle attorneys and staff volunteered their time to Puget Soundkeeper Alliance’s coastal cleanup at a park on the waterfront. The Anchorage office undertook a community garden cleanup. And DWT’s Washington, D.C., office worked to help keep the Potomac River clean.

Giving Back

According to the Portland Business Journal’s 2021 Corporate Philanthropy report, the Portland office made the largest total inkind charitable contribution during 2020 of any Oregon company: $1.98 million. DWT is grateful to its Portland lawyers and staff, who donated nearly 7,000 hours of their time to pro bono.

Office Fundraisers

Portland’s Generosity Recognized

DWT’s Seattle and Bellevue offices completed their 38th annual United Way workplace giving campaign and raised more than $129,000 to help at-risk and in-need communities across Washington state—well exceeding their goal. Cindy L. Caditz and Lauren B. Rainwater helped lead this initiative.

DWT’s Seattle and Bellevue offices also led the charge on the 2021 Food Frenzy workplace giving campaign. DWT attorneys and staff donated more than $96,000, which is the equivalent to 480,000 meals for those struggling with food insecurity. This achievement broke the previous year’s record, and DWT once again won first place in the law firm giving category. Food Frenzy leadership included partners Jason T. Froggatt and Dipa N. Sudra.

Walking to Defeat ALS, Honoring a Beloved Associate

When Seattle associate Nicholas Warack was diagnosed with ALS, he shared his story to raise consciousness about the disease across the firm. In a firmwide communication during ALS Awareness Month, Nick wrote a deeply affecting account of his experience and appealed to his coworkers to join the Pro Bono & Social Impact team in its new ALS initiative, created in his honor. Dozens of attorneys and staff turned out to be on Team Nick for Walk to Defeat ALS in cities across the country. DWT’s Seattle/Bellevue team was the largest ALS walking team in Washington state.

Pre-Law Diversity Fellowship

DWT created the Pre-Law Diversity Fellowship legal pipeline three years ago. The program provides a one-year fellowship for Washington state college and university students who are considering law school. In 2021, DWT partnered with T-Mobile and Expedia to provide mentors to participating students. The program includes a two-day educational academy, one-on-one mentorship, quarterly fellowship cohort mentoring calls, and (upon successful completion of the program) an LSAT preparation course scholarship. In this video, Caesar Kalinowski IV, an associate who helped conceive and launch the fellowship, talks about the program with his mentee, Ellie Pakzad, now a student at the University of Washington School of Law and a 2022 summer associate with DWT.

Wellness Kits Program

Veterans42

In honor of Veterans Day, DWT staff members across the firm created 600 wellness kits which were given to nonprofit organizations serving homeless veterans in Anchorage, Los Angeles, New York, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle/Bellevue, and Washington, D.C.

Awards & Recognition

Heart of Justice Award

Brent Droze, an associate in DWT’s real estate and land use practice group, was named the winner of the 2020 Julie Orr Heart of Justice Award. The award was given in early 2021 and annually recognizes an associate who demonstrates a remarkable commitment to pro bono and champions access to justice.

Brent provided legal counsel and advice to the housing arm of Mount Zion Baptist Church in its development of a 60unit affordable apartment building in Seattle’s historically Black Central District, a project designed to serve seniors facing displacement due to the effects of gentrification.

Larry B. Burke , Allison B. Condra , Tim Cunningham , Kathy Dent , Alan Galloway , Derek D. Green , Brent Hamilton , Thomas S. Hillier , Meagan A. Himes , Taylor Hurwitz , Olivier Jamin , Trinity A. Madrid , P. Andrew McStay Jr. , William D. Miner , Caitlin P. Shin , Chris Swift , Mark Trinchero , Ashley L. (Watkins) Vulin , Adam Waks , Laura Warf , and Christopher Weathers .

Alaska State Bar Association’s Bryan P. Timbers Award

Law360 Social Impact Leader

Rainmaker Award

DWT received the Bryan P. Timbers Award, thanks to a moving nomination submitted by the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. In granting the award, the Alaska Bar Association stated, “Survivors of domestic violence around the state have benefitted enormously from your advocacy and compassion.” DWT participants in this work include Joseph Reece (retired), Chad Darcy, Sander Goldthwait, Elizabeth P. Hodes, Sheila Swanson, Anne Marie Tavella, and Patti A. Vecera.

Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll

For the ninth consecutive year, DWT was recognized as the leading large firm in the state for pro bono hours in Oregon. Twenty-one of DWT’s current Portland attorneys were also named to the Oregon State Bar Pro Bono Honor Roll, which recognizes lawyers who dedicate 40 or more hours to pro bono in the previous calendar year.

In an inaugural report listing the legal industry’s top-100 Social Impact Leaders, Law360 placed DWT at number 13 nationwide. The ranking was based on four key indicators of socially responsible business practices: racial and ethnic diversity, gender equality, employee engagement, and pro bono service.

Burt Braverman*, Maria T. Browne, Adam S. Caldwell, Robert Corn-Revere*, Patrick J. Curran Jr.*, Courtney T. DeThomas*, Laura R. Handman*, Bradford Hardin, David M. Gossett*, Meenakshi Krishnan*, Bradley R. Miliauskas*, Christopher W. Savage*, John D. Seiver*, and Jordan E. Thompson. (* denotes high honors)

The firm was proud to receive the Rainmaker Award from the Legal Foundation of Washington (“LFW”) for DWT’s strong performance in LFW’s 2021 Associates Campaign for Equal Justice. Last year, 76 of DWT’s Seattle and Bellevue associates donated to the campaign—that represents 85 percent participation. With additional support from generous partners, DWT raised more than $29,000 for the campaign, the highest collective donation across all participating law firms. This impressive effort was led by LFW Associate Campaign Committee members and DWT attorneys Sara A. Fairchild and Grace Thompson.

Oregon State Bar Pro Bono Challenge

Fourteen of DWT’s current Washington, D.C., attorneys were named to this 2021 list, which recognizes lawyers who dedicated more than 50 hours in the previous calendar year to pro bono service.

Seattle associate Jack Chang was recognized with this award from the Washington State Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Committee. Jack, an intellectual property lawyer, has dedicated numerous hours to various pro bono programs, including the King County Bar Association Family Law Program, the Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program in Washington, D.C., and Lawyers Fostering Independence. Through the University of Washington’s Pro Bono Patent Network, he devoted 50 hours to helping an inventor navigate the highly complex patent process. He also dedicated over 40 hours to the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law election protection hotlines in 2020, by using his Mandarin-language skills to help voters across the country participate in this important democratic process. Jack also donates his time and talent to the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity and the alumni program at the Seattle University School of Law, where he regularly mentors law students.

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Public Service and Leadership Award