Justice for sexually assaulted prisoner
Kirkland's pro bono work led a jury to award nearly $20 million in damages to a client who had been repeatedly sexually assaulted and raped by her counselor while serving time in the Logan Correctional Center in Illinois. The judgment — the largest Section 1983 verdict that federal Judge Sue E. Myerscough had seen in her several decades on the bench — came after a five-year legal battle led by Kirkland and Uptown People’s Law Center.
In 2018, the client filed a case against her former counselor, as well as the prison’s head investigator and warden, who had both learned of the abuse but failed to investigate or assign a different counselor. At trial, the Kirkland team presented jaw-dropping evidence and testimony. When the verdict was announced in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois in 2023, the client was gratified, appreciative and hopeful that this substantial award would be a sufficient deterrent, preventing other prisoners from enduring similar experiences.
Returning Bruce’s Beach
Kirkland, along with another law firm and the nonprofit Public Counsel, assisted the heir of a Black family in getting land that had belonged to their family returned to them after nearly 100 years.
In the 1920s and ’30s, Charles and Willa Bruce owned a beachfront resort in the city of Manhattan Beach, California. In connection with a widespread effort to remove the local Black population, the city — allegedly under the influence of the local Ku Klux Klan — used eminent domain to take the property for compensation well below the property’s value at the time.
In 2020, Kirkland helped the Bruce family carry out intensive research, with our lawyers tracing the title history of the property, conducting significant historical fact-finding about how the property was taken and assisting with litigation assessments. This work lay the foundation for the Bruce family to advocate for the restoration of their property to the heirs of Charles and Willa Bruce. Finally, in a moving ceremony in the summer of 2022, the property was officially returned to the Bruce family.
A name that fits
Kirkland has long partnered with the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, an organization focused on transgender equality through impact litigation and public policy work, to obtain legal name changes for members of the transgender community.
For many transgender people, securing a legal name change is an important step toward making their legal identity match their lived experience. As a result of Kirkland’s partnership, 35 clients received an order officially changing their names in 2023 alone, allowing them to live as their authentic selves.
A future for immigrant children
In 2022, the National Immigrant Justice Center and Chicago Volunteer Legal Services held a clinic to help undocumented immigrant children with the first step in obtaining Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), a designation providing a path to permanent resident status for those who’ve been abused, abandoned or neglected by one of their parents. More than a dozen Kirkland restructuring attorneys participated in the clinic and represented the parents or guardians of seven immigrant children in their petitions for guardianship or custody, a process that can take up to six months.
After the clinic’s success, Kirkland pro bono legal counsel Ashley Huebner and partner Alexandra Schwarzman pushed to expand the project to include more restructuring attorneys from across offices. In the two years since, the group has doubled the number of children who have obtained the initial state court “predicate” order necessary for pursuing SIJS, including taking on several emergency cases on an expedited timeline.
“As a parent, I can’t think of a better way to use our legal skills than to help some of the most vulnerable children in our society," Alexandra said. "I’m so proud we can be part of this project.”
Serving those who serve us
Returning to civilian life after service can be a jarring experience, and some U.S. veterans need assistance with employment, mental or physical health issues or housing. Kirkland has long committed to providing pro bono legal counsel on behalf of former servicemembers.
The Firm is currently working on matters pertaining to military sexual trauma (MST). In 2023, a pro bono team represented a veteran experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to MST that occurred while serving. Kirkland successfully overturned an Army Board for Correction of Military Records decision denying her a discharge upgrade for PTSD.
Another Kirkland team led by partner Cy Jones assisted in securing a significant partnership between Team Rubicon, a veteran-led humanitarian organization that serves global communities experiencing natural disasters and crises, and Ford Motor Company. The deal included a $2.5 million investment, a provision of vehicles and a commitment to deploying employee volunteers. “There really is no more gratifying work than being able to provide resources that veteran-led organizations like Team Rubicon can use to further multiply the aid it provides people on their worst days,” Cy said.
