Pro Bono Client Reaches Settlement in Rikers Island Case

On August 8, 2024, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) granted asylum to two Cravath pro bono clients, a gay couple from Russia who suffered violence and persecution based on their sexual orientation.

On August 23, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that 19 children in a longstanding lawsuit could proceed as a class representing all children in the New York City foster care system, an important milestone for plaintiffs represented by Cravath on a pro bono basis alongside co‑counsel at A Better Childhood (“ABC”). Judge Kimba Wood issued the decision after the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a prior ruling denying class certification in September 2023.

On February 13, 2024, the New York State Appellate Division, First Department, reversed the convictions of Tommy Davis, who was simultaneously prosecuted for two unrelated incidents involving firearms. Cravath represented Mr. Davis on a pro bono basis alongside co‑counsel at the Office of the Appellate Defender.

On November 28, 2023, the Queens County Criminal Court entered an order on consent resentencing pro bono client A.M. and securing her release. A.M. had been incarcerated since June 2010. She was originally sentenced in June 2011, pursuant to a plea agreement, to a 20‑year determinate sentence plus five years’ post‑release supervision for first‑degree manslaughter after her romantic partner, who had subjected her to severe domestic abuse, killed her former partner, who had sex trafficked her and also subjected her to severe domestic abuse.