The firm first got involved in 2002 at Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in the Bronx, where Dr. Irwin Redlener conceived of the collaboration. “It was different from a lot of other pro bono we had been doing,” says litigation partner Paul Saunders, who brought the project to the firm. “A lot of what we had done before was not for individuals.”
The firm realized that many of the issues it would see were not ones that it normally encountered with its corporate clients. “They were not problems we knew much about,” Saunders says. Cravath lawyers first educated themselves about the topics, and created a library of reference materials. A few areas would be off limit: The firm agreed not to sue the hospital, and decided not to take domestic violence cases.
In one case, the firm got a visa for the Colombian mother of a teenager with kidney failure, who was thought to be a likely donor. In another, the firm won asylum for a girl from French Guiana who had been the victim of female genital mutilation. The girl had been treated at the hospital for post-traumatic stress.
Hundreds of Cravath lawyers have been involved in this project over the years. “The associates love the cases,” says corporate partner LizabethAnn Eisen. She is one of eight supervising partners, and worked on this project when she was an associate. In 2003, the firm agreed to work with a second hospital, Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York-Presbyterian.
In contrast to litigation projects that can drag on for years, the patients’ legal problems can often be resolved quickly. “It’s nice to take on matters where you make a few phone calls and you feel like you are doing some good,” says Saunders. Adds Eisen: “You can fit it into your daily routine without it overwhelming you. It’s something busy lawyers can participate in.”
