In 2020, Shipman & Goodwin provided pro bono legal services to needy individuals and families, veterans, small businesses and non-profits in our community, with the COVID-19 pandemic creating urgent new problems to solve. Here are some of the many ways we helped those in need last year.

INDIVIDUALS AND FAMILIES SEEKING SAFETY, ECONOMIC STABILITY AND JUSTICE

Last Spring, through the ACLU’s Immigrant Protection Project, we prepared parole or bond applications on behalf of 11 families who were confined in crowded and unhealthy ICE detention facilities that put them at high risk of a COVID-19 infection. Each family included one or more small children suffering from serious health problems (asthma, fevers, malnutrition) that made them particularly susceptible to infection. For example, three-year-old Dylan—who fled Honduras after the Mara 18 gang tortured and killed one family member and shot another—had difficulty eating and sleeping, was hardly verbal and clung to his father for emotional support. 

Eight-year-old Yantza and seven-year-old Adrian—whose families fled persecution in their home countries—required special medical attention for asthma. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement granted the applications of nine of the 37 families included in the ACLU project, including ones we prepared, permitting those parents and children to live in safety with family members or sponsors while awaiting a hearing on their asylum applications. Andrea Gomes, Lilia Hrekul and Vaughan Finn

Bradley Harper, Marine Margaryan, Neha Parikh, Alfredo Fernandez and Vaughan Finn helped over 30 lawful permanent residents (green card holders) apply for citizenship through the Hartford Public Library’s Naturalization Program, including filling out N400 forms and putting applicants through “mock” U.S. Customs and Immigration Services interviews. Our clients included an Afghan asylum seeker who worked as a translator for the US Armed Forces in Afghanistan; a teenage refugee from Myanmar who belongs to the Karen ethnic minority, victims of one of the world’s longest running civil wars; a 63-year-old Pakistani mother of seven; and an applicant from the Dominican Republic who—amazingly—correctly answered all 30+ questions from the civics test put

to him during the mock interview.  (See how many of these

questions you can answer here).  In its 2020 Annual Report,

HPL gave special thanks to Bradley Harper—who introduced the firm to this work—for donating his “skills and knowledge” to the Naturalization Program.

Greater Hartford Legal Aid asked us to help a woman who was on the path to lawful permanent resident status through the Violence Against Women Act, as a victim of family violence. When GHLA approached us, the client was facing a misdemeanor charge arising from a domestic violence incident in which she protected her minor daughter from the child’s father. Due to timing and COVID-related delays, this pending criminal charge stood in the way of her application for a green card and employment authorization. 

Surmounting all of the logistical obstacles of the pandemic, Kristie Beahm persuaded the State’s Attorney to drop the charges, allowing the client to obtain her green card and achieve increased safety and stability for herself and her child.

Sarah Westby, with help from Lisa Waller and Bradley Harper, submitted an updated asylum application on behalf of a young Pakistani woman who is attending college in Massachusetts, based on her fear that she would be forced to submit to an arranged marriage upon her return to Pakistan and face violence at the hands of her male relatives for pursuing a college education in the United States and her adoption of “Western” ways. Our client’s initial application was rejected by USCIS because it considered her fears of harm to be speculative. Sarah resubmitted the application after our client’s worst fears were confirmed: her cousin was murdered by the cousin’s brother for refusing to submit to an arranged marriage. Our client feared that she would face the same fate if forced to return to Pakistan. Unfortunately, but consistent with then-current immigration policy, USCIS summarily rejected the renewed application. However, we were able to assist our client with maintaining her student status through her senior year of college.

On February 5, 2020, Chief Judge Bredar of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland granted the habeas corpus petition of Matthew Horner, a pro bono client represented by Pat Naples, with help from Joette Katz, Pat Fahey and Morgan Rueckert.  The Court ordered that Mr. Horner be released after serving more than 15 years of a life sentence because the State had failed to disclose exculpatory evidence and Mr. Horner had not knowingly waived his right to a jury trial.  After the State appealed, Pat oversaw the completion of a 100+ page appellate brief, with the help of co-counsel from the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project and two other private law firms.  In December, Pat argued the appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.  The team is anxiously awaiting the Fourth Circuit’s opinion. 

Ed Parks, Sarah Hunkler and Greg Gomperts represented an elderly woman in poor health who sought to sell her Virginia property in order to pay her medical bills and other living expenses.  Our client was initially unable to do so due to an illegitimate cloud on the title to her property caused by a bank’s failure to record documents showing that the original mortgage associated with a recorded 1987 deed of trust was 

paid off in connection with a 2002 refinancing.  That bank was defunct by the time the error was realized.  We secured and recorded an order declaring the original mortgage satisfied, expunging the problematic deed of trust, and requiring the trustee to cooperate in executing any documents reasonably requested by our client.  We continued to represent our client in connection with the ultimate sale of the property and negotiation of the division of proceeds between the co-owners. 

In 2017, John DiMarco and Alison Baker obtained Special Immigrant Juvenile Status in Virginia state court for Ana and Cristian, two young immigrants from El Salvador who fled to the US to live with their aunt after they were abandoned by their parents and received repeated death threats from the MS-13 and 18th Street gangs. At the end of September 2020, the federal government issued notice that applicants from Central America with the same “priority dates” as Ana and Cristian could apply for lawful permanent status as of October 1, but also announced that on October 2 it would eliminate fee waivers for such applicants and more than double the amount of the fee to a level far beyond our clients’ ability to pay. Notwithstanding John’s scheduled vacation, he and Alison wasted no time and managed to file all of the required paperwork for their young clients’ visa applications and fee waivers on October 1.

ELDERLY AND DISABLED VETERANS

In a rare victory, the Army Discharge Review Board granted the discharge upgrade application we submitted on behalf of a client who served two combat tours in Iraq, during which he was exposed to IED blasts, mortar and rocket attacks, and the deaths of many civilians and fellow soldiers. Although he was subsequently hospitalized and diagnosed with severe PTSD, our client was discharged for “misconduct” after he failed a drug test. 

The ADRB concluded that the discharge was “inequitable,” upgraded it to “Honorable,” and eliminated all reference to drug use from our client’s discharge papers. This long-running case was handled by Vaughan Finn, Christine Donnelly and our former colleague Bryanne Kelleher.

Sarah Dlugoszewski submitted a discharge upgrade application to the Naval Discharge Review Board on behalf of a Navy veteran with PTSD, who received an Other Than Honorable discharge based on a single failed drug test for marijuana use. Sarah previously persuaded the VA to reverse its denial of our client’s application for VA benefits, by establishing that his PTSD stemmed from multiple deployments to the Persian Gulf during the Iraq War where he was exposed to numerous crash landings on an aircraft carrier. This prior victory will provide a strong underpinning for a discharge upgrade.

Laura Schuyler advised an elderly, disabled veteran, who lives alone in assisted housing, about his options for getting help managing his finances in the future in the event he loses mental capacity; Andrea Gomes advised a 67-year-old disabled Marine veteran about his options for renewing or abandoning his trailer park lease.

SMALL BUSINESSES AND NON-PROFITS

Through the CBA’s COVID-19 Small Business Clinic, Kate Mylod provided PPP loan-related advice to Caffery’s Dance and Gymnastics Studio, a Middletown “institution” that has been in operation for generations.  As a smaller dance studio, our client was particularly hard hit by shutdown and social distancing measures. Kate assisted the owners with the PPP application, including the forgiveness portion, and also worked through lease questions.  

Combining legal counsel with professional mentoring, Kate not only helped the dance studio survive but also had an informal outdoor coffee with the owners’ daughter, who is interested in going to law school, about the law school experience and working at a law firm.

Scott Gerard and Toma Brown provided pro bono assistance to the Housing Development Fund, Inc., which enabled HDF to purchase property on behalf of its Community Land Trust to be developed as low income housing in Stamford and to remain as such indefinitely.  HDF provides financing and other assistance to enable low and moderate income households to rent or buy affordable housing throughout the State of Connecticut.  

Through a referral from Yale Law School’s Community and Economic Development Clinic, Greg Muccilli and Aaron Baral helped the City of New Haven convert “Q House” from a shuttered community center into a 54,000 square-foot, two-story building that will house the Stetson Library, the Cornell Scott Hill Health Center, the Dixwell Senior Center, and a new basketball court, recording studio and other amenities, serving the residents of the Dixwell and Newhallville neighborhoods of New Haven. 

The mission of Q House is “[t]o ensure that Black youth and their families, not to the exclusion of other youth and their families, have an opportunity to live in and benefit from society by instilling the values and knowledge which will enhance the quality of individual family and community life.”  Aaron and Greg drafted and presented the bylaws of the new Q House to the City’s Board of Alders. They also addressed a number of unusual governance and organizational issues, including the intersection between municipal and state law as it relates to this currently public agency of the City of New Haven, and advising a large number of local and statewide leaders who serve on the Board.  Our work has had real and tangible results for the residents of the Dixwell and Newhallville neighborhoods of New Haven.

Through Yale Law School’s COVID Small Business Relief Effort, Rob Grady helped a small restaurant (purveyor of “healthy, authentic, delicious organic food”) address concerns relating to the pandemic that have affected its operations and retail leases. 

Damien Privitera and Bill Roberts developed new policies for the Connecticut chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which provides support groups, community education programs, and advocacy for adults and children with mental health conditions. Damien and Bill helped create a technology and acceptable-use policy that facilitated the ability of NAMI’s workforce to shift to remote work due to COVID, including remote offerings of much of the organization’s programming.

With our help, after nine months of vigorous negotiations, Covenant Preparatory School executed a lease amendment with its landlord, YWCA of Hartford.  Pat Naples and Christine Donnelly spearheaded the representation, with the aid of Lisa Zana and Barbara Villandry.  Our work has enabled Covenant to continue its mission of teaching deserving underserved middle school kids, with the goal of launching them into different lives at better high schools and four-year colleges.

The Connecticut Sustainable Business Council asked Elva Saltzman, Ray Cassella, Lou Schatz and Pattie Chouinard for assistance in obtaining 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. CTSBC was formed to foster awareness of, and educate the public regarding, the environmental benefits of clean energy, energy efficiency, and sustainable, healthy and resilient business practices, including steps to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing or mitigating the adverse impacts of climate change. We assisted CTSBC with preparing and submitting to the IRS an application for tax-exempt status, amended its Certificate of Incorporation, and corrected its past-due annual reports.

We also continued to represent abused and neglected children in Juvenile Court proceedings (Kristie Beahm, Taylor Curtis, Jaime Welsh); assisted ImmaCare Inc., in making major state-funded renovations to its emergency shelter for the homeless in Hartford, involving financing, land use, historic preservation and construction law (Mary Jo Andrews, Christine Chipman, Christine Donnelly, Bob O’Brien); and continued to provide substantial legal services to the Stamford Center for the Arts (Mike Widland, Christine Chipman, Kelly Trahan), the Mill River Collaborative (Mike Widland, Cathy Intravia, Marc Esterman, Keegan Drenosky, Matt Ranelli), the Darien Arts Center (Carolyn Cavolo, Keegan Drenosky), and Simply Smiles, Inc. (Sarah Westby, Aaron Baral, Tasha Marrero). Altogether, over 70 lawyers and paralegals, together with many staff members, worked on pro bono matters in 2020. Many thanks to all of them for making a difference in the lives of others!