Partnerships

Pro Bono partnership work in 2023 included:

Capital Litigation

Two capital litigation cases, as well as a wrongful death case, filed in the Northern District of Alabama in 2020. The lawsuit in this case asserts claims on behalf of the estate of a man murdered in an Alabama prison, and alleges the abhorrent conditions of confinement and rampant violence in the prison violate the U.S. Constitution.

Compassionate Release

Representation of federal prisoners seeking release from custody via “compassionate release” arguments based on the 2018 First Step Act. As of 2023, Sidley teams and in-house co-counsel have taken cases on behalf of 13 compassionate release inmates.

Asylum and Immigration

Immigration clinics that our Chicago office hosts with the National Immigrant Justice Center to assist asylees and refugees seeking to renew their Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status; obtain temporary protected status; and petition to bring family members to the U.S. We also work with in-house teams from firm clients to represent individuals and families in ongoing asylum matters.

An ongoing asylum/Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) case referred to lawyers in our D.C. office by Kids In Need of Defense (KIND).

For the eighth consecutive year, Sidley’s New York office partnered with a client’s Legal and Compliance department to assist clients of Sanctuary for Families in preparing naturalization filings for individuals seeking U.S. citizenship.

Veterans Advocacy

A veterans’ benefits initiative focused on military discharge upgrade matters in conjunction with the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP), as well as a training on the military’s Integrated Disability Evaluation System (IDES) as part of an NVLSP clinic.

A clinic to interview and identify veterans with meritorious cases to seal their Texas criminal records in November. Sidley lawyers file the pleadings and cover any hearings that are scheduled.

Individual representations of military veterans on behalf of veterans seeking service-connected disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs, referred by the City Bar Justice Center.

Supporting Our Communities

A volunteer initiative with the Center for Disability and Elder Law on a Power of Attorney Workshop held at a police station on the South Side of Chicago.  The workshop helped community members execute POA for property and health care.

A project to staff the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center’s Landlord Tenant Resource Center once a month. Sidley and the firm client with whom we have partnered on this project meet virtually with tenants and small landlords to provide legal information in residential landlord-tenant disputes.

An initiative in Sidley’s London office in which a Sidley team, working together with co-counsel from a client’s in-house Legal & Compliance team, handled welfare benefit appeal cases, representing individuals with disabilities before the Social Security Tribunal. Sidley lawyers ran a training session on Personal Independence Payment appeals and co-counseled on two successful appeals.

An initiative in New York to help clients referred by Start Small, Think Big in which volunteers reviewed contracts for small business owners. Our teams assisted a wide variety of business owners, including film producers, a bibliotherapist, and a hot dog stand owner.

A Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project (NELP) clinic through the City Bar Justice Center in New York. During the NELP clinic, lawyer teams met with local entrepreneurs seeking legal advice. These clinics help clients achieve financial independence and break the cycle of poverty created by systemic inequality, while bringing jobs and services to the communities where they live and work.

A clinic organized by Legal Aid Chicago in which volunteers prepared paperwork for juvenile criminal record expunction petitions and conducted telephone consultations with the clients to explain the status of the matters.

Equal Justice Works Fellow

Together with firm clients, Sidley co-sponsors fellows through the Equal Justice Works (EJW) initiative. The outgoing two-year fellow is working for Kids In Need of Defense (KIND) in Newark, New Jersey. Learn more about the 2022 EJW fellow project here.

Sidley is also co-sponsoring two-year EJW fellows whose work will begin in fall 2024 at KIND in Orlando, Florida, and Lawyers for Children (LFC) in New York, respectively.