On September 24, 2024, Davis Polk was honored at New York County Defender Services’ 25th anniversary gala with the Pro Bono Partner Award in recognition of the firm’s role in spearheading work addressing the conditions and Covid-19 crisis on Rikers Island. Counsel and Head of Racial Justice Pro Bono Diane Lucas accepted the award on the firm’s behalf.

At the request of the public defense firm New York County Defender Services (NYCDS), Davis Polk developed the concept for an expansive writ project aimed at providing relief to individuals incarcerated at Rikers and building general awareness of the prison complex’s poor conditions. We recruited five other New York law firms to join the effort, led a training for all volunteers and committed Davis Polk’s resources to support the infrastructure that would make this project possible.

Once established, NYCDS directed its Rikers Island inmate case flow to Davis Polk’s Pro Bono team, which distributed cases among our own lawyers and volunteering lawyers from participating firms. Using a template brief that the Davis Polk team drafted, lawyers filed writs of habeas corpus on behalf of their clients demonstrating that Rikers had failed to keep them safe, and co-counseled with NYCDS in the court proceedings that followed.   

Davis Polk handled a case on behalf of a man with severe mental illness who was viciously beaten by other individuals incarcerated at Rikers and denied necessary medical and psychiatric care. With the Davis Polk team’s advocacy, which included drafting the writ and accompanying affidavits, preparing the client for the hearing, directing his testimony on the stand, and delivering arguments before the court, our client was granted a very favorable plea deal in a pending case and transferred to a safer facility.

Learn more about Davis Polk’s Pro Bono program. 

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