| The area of Prisoners' Rights has steadily absorbed an increasing share of our pro bono practice. It is a rich area for trial work and associate training as well as a meaningful undertaking that aids a population often ignored by society. Project lawyers also contribute content to two national Web sites, Probono.net and IllinoisProBono.org, that provide resources to other pro bono lawyers involved in prisoners' rights cases.
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 | Winning Streak in Seventh Circuit
Summer, 2004 - Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw lawyers went undefeated in four consecutive pro bono arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago. Two of the victories came on the same day. The Court overturned a life sentence because the defendant was not provided a public trial; reinstated
a prison abuse case; invalidated a murder conviction; and ordered a new sentencing hearing in a former death penalty case. Read >>
| | | Prisoners' Rights
Summer, 2004 - When Marc Kadish joined the firm as Director of Pro Bono, he brought with him a raft of criminal cases he had undertaken while still a clinical professor of law at Chicago Kent Law School. The cases served as a training program to refocus the pro bono program. Although Marc and a number of partners, associates, and summer associates from the Chicago office tried or pled 18 criminal cases, including nine murder cases, in five years, he decided to limit the Chicago office's work in criminal cases. Read >>
| | | Will Berndt Wins First Trial
19 March 2003 - In the beginning of January, federal judge Harold Baker asked us to accept an appointment in a prisoner's civil rights case pending in Urbana. He also asked us to be ready to try the case in the middle of March. Read >>
| | | Prisoners' Civil Rights Litigation Luncheon
December, 2001 - Eleven lawyers from the Chicago office have worked on six appointed federal prisoner civil rights cases within the past year. On 13 November, an informal lunch was held to exchange information on the cases. Read >>
| | | Deliberate Indifference
December, 2001 - Louis Thompson, a pro se New York state prisoner, filed suit, alleging deliberate indifference on the part of state correctional and hospital officials to his serious medical needs, in violation of his Eighth Amendment rights. Mr. Thompson, who suffers from jacksonian epilepsy, was repeatedly denied his prescription medications, following their confiscation as part of a prison cell search. Read >>
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