PROBONO Bulletin - Winter 2008 - (Page 26)

INTERvIEW Q: Did your experience as an AUSA ever discourage you from representing criminal defendants as a private lawyer? No, that doesn’t create an issue for me because I’ve never been a so-called true believer, either as a prosecutor or defense lawyer. I approach everything with a healthy skepticism. When I was working as a prosecutor, FBI agents would grumble about defense lawyers creating work for them, to which I’d respond, “It ought to be hard to put people in jail. It’s not hard in places like North Korea. We don’t want to be like that. In other parts of the world, the accused just go directly to jail without the government having to prove a case against them.” Q: What pro bono matters are you working on now? I have a client from Africa who is applying for political asylum and a number of criminal clients, including someone who is accused of being involved in an alleged marijuana conspiracy and another who is an environmental activist. I just wrapped up a case on behalf of a man from Mexico who was charged with robbery. The co-defendants got 76 and 54 months. Ours got 32 months, even though he had 2 previous convictions. Q: Do you take a lot of political asylum cases? Yes. I have a relationship with the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and take about one case per year from them. The firm also sponsors their annual dinner every year. Q: you’ve had some great victories over the past few years. Well, that depends on how you define victory. We had one case in which a local cab driver was accused of conspiring to distribute Khat, which is a mild stimulant and a controlled substance. That was great because we got the indictment dismissed. I also represented a Nepalese man who was granted asylum after a trial in immigration court. We’ve had other criminal cases where we work hard so our client doesn’t have to do much time—is that a victory? I don’t know. Q: you’re obviously very busy, and you just took on an additional pro bono case. How do you manage to do it all? Being surrounded by really good people is crucial. You still have the same obligation to the client in a pro bono case, but there are always ways to supervise and delegate things. If someone shows they’re capable, they’ll get all the responsibility they can handle. If an associate expresses interest in working on a case with me, I let them primarily handle it if they show the initiative. Associates need to be involved in pro bono. Even if you’re not trying to be altruistic, the experience is absolutely essential in terms of building your legal career. Q: What keeps you busy outside of work? I have two boys, I’m on a bicycle racing team and I love crosscountry ski racing. There is a place that’s a 40-minute drive from my house with 100 km of trails and all the snowfall you can imagine. I recently completed a 50 km cross-country ski marathon in Anchorage. Lately, I’ve also been into cycle cross, which is a European sport popular in Seattle. You ride a road bike with thicker tires, but off-road. You often encounter steep, muddy hills. When you’re in a race and you can’t get uphill, you just have to pick up the bike and run. Q: Was reversing a man’s death sentence your most rewarding pro bono experience? That case was very emotional and personally rewarding. We won an appeal before the Alabama Supreme Court and had a long suppression hearing. That was great. But I have to say, some of the political asylum cases I’ve had, where I see how people’s faces light up when they get the news that they’ve been granted asylum, that’s just wonderful. There is no better feeling as a lawyer than to feel like you’ve helped someone like that. It must be the lawyer equivalent of how a surgeon feels when he saves someone’s life. It’s what elevates the profession. 26 | PRO BONO BULLETIN

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of PROBONO Bulletin - Winter 2008

PROBONO Bulletin - Winter 2008 Contents Cover Story: Digging Deep: DLA Piper’s Signature Project Model CSR Report Feature Story: DLA Piper Assists with German Ghetto Work Payment Program Clinics National News Mapping Impact An Interview With Jeff Coopersmith FourThought New Perimeter Update Awards and Recognition

PROBONO Bulletin - Winter 2008

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