COMMUNITY PRO BONO

COMMUNITY PRO BONO

As part of GMSR’s long-standing commitment to social justice and equality, GMSR provides pro bono appellate services to individuals and to community organizations on issues of concern.

Sample Pro Bono Cases
  • Immigration.  GMSR obtained a Ninth Circuit reversal of a deportation order, and a remand to the lower court to decide whether GMSR’s client, who followed his parents into the United States as a child, is entitled to leave the country voluntarily without having a deportation order on his record.
  • Title IX.  GMSR partnered with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law to draft an amicus brief arguing that a new rule nominally intended to protect students of color, students with disabilities, and LGBTQ students from sexual harassment will instead actually deter reporting misconduct and adequate investigations by amplifying the roles of stereotypes, biases, prejudices, and discrimination.
  • Toxic Waste Clean-Up.  In a Ninth Circuit appeal addressing the statute of limitations for seeking contribution among polluters for toxic waste cleanup costs under the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act, GMSR filed an amicus brief on behalf of a former U.S. Department of Justice official who had developed and implemented policies and strategies for enforcement of the Act. GMSR argued on his behalf that the Act should be interpreted in a manner that speeds up Superfund site remediation, discourages drawn-out litigation, and promotes settlements among polluters and the Environmental Protection Agency.  The Ninth Circuit agreed and reversed the district court’s contrary interpretation of the Act.
  • Marriage and Constitutional Rights.  In litigation over California’s Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage, GMSR filed an amicus asserting that Proposition 8’s implications went far beyond the same-sex marriage issue, and would forever change the meaning of core constitutional language guaranteeing that certain rights are “inalienable rights” that belong to “all people.”  GMSR filed the brief on behalf of the Beverly Hills Bar Association, California Women Lawyers, Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, and Women Lawyers of Sacramento.
Community Involvement

GMSR takes seriously its commitment to give back to the community it serves.  In addition to our attorneys’ pro bono legal work, GMSR and its employees have recently volunteered time, and provided financial support to, the following organizations:

  • Public Counsel
  • Bet Tzedek
  • Samaritan House
  • Shelter Partnership
  • The Appellate Project (TAP)
  • League of Women Voters
  • Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights
  • Project for the Innocent (Loyola Law School)
  • Food Forward
  • Feeding America
  • Third Wave Fund
  • Coalition for Engaged Education
  • Immigrant Defenders Law Center
  • Every Mother Counts
  • People Assisting the Homeless (PATH)
  • Asian American Advancing Justice
  • Stop AAPI Hate
  • Southeast Asian Community Alliance
  • Community Action Partnership of Orange County
  • National Center for Youth Law
  • International Rescue Committee
  • Clean Air Task Force
  • Downtown Women’s Center
  • Los Angeles Mission
  • City of Hope
  • Western Justice Center