Orrick Partners with NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund on Innovative Toolkit to Support Police Accountability

August.13.2020

An Orrick pro bono team collaborated with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) on the release today of a comprehensive toolkit to support police accountability. The toolkit, Community Oversight of Police Union Contracts, is designed to help identify the barriers in police union contracts that may shield officers from the timely investigation of misconduct complaints and appropriate discipline.

Led by Pro Bono Counsel Rene Kathawala and partner Lorraine McGowen, the Orrick team worked closely with LDF over several years to develop the toolkit. “We are pleased to help LDF make it available as an objective tool and benchmarking resource at a time when there is increased scrutiny of police conduct as a focus of the Black Lives Matter movement,” Rene said.

This toolkit will help guide the public through the process of inquiring about the status of police union contracts and analyzing provisions that can be barriers to transparency and accountability.

LDF’s toolkit identifies six areas of concern based on a review of 112 police union contracts in 82 of the nation’s largest cities. It describes how each area of concern can impede investigations of complaints or shield officers from discipline for misconduct. It also includes a list of questions that community members can use to help them pinpoint areas where changes may be appropriate in their locality’s police union contracts.

The six areas of concern are: (1) delays in interviewing officers accused of misconduct; (2) limits on time periods for imposing discipline on officers accused of misconduct; (3) requirements that complaints be signed or sworn; (4) removal of disciplinary records from police personnel files; (5) the use and composition of disciplinary hearing boards; and (6) the use of vacation or other leave time in lieu of suspension.

This is the latest example of our pro bono work in the area of racial, social and economic justice. Another Orrick team led by Tiffany Wright recently filed an amicus brief in a California case warning of the threat to the justice system posed by striking jurors from criminal trials based on their support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

Orrick last month was again ranked one of the top five law firms in the U.S. and internationally for pro bono by American Lawyer, and named for the third consecutive year to the National Law Journal Pro Bono Hot List.

In addition to Rene and Lorraine, the team on the LDF toolkit included Lynne Hirata, Devin Canavan, Christina Hatinoglu, Jennifer Jones, Dora Mao, Helen Pennock, Lisa Magged, Helen Aki, David Litterine-Kaufman, Jon Mandel and Dao Huynh.

Related Lawyers

Rene Kathawala Pro Bono Counsel

New York

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D:+1 212 506 5100
E: [email protected]

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Rene Kathawala Pro Bono Counsel

New York

Rene works with other pro bono counsel and legal services nonprofits to increase the quantity and quality of pro bono representation that is being provided to indigent clients in each of the cities worldwide where Orrick has a presence. In addition, he supervises and directly works on cases in such diverse areas as immigration law, family and matrimonial law, housing law, public benefits law, employment law counseling, impact litigation and nonprofit advice and counseling. Rene has worked on many substantial matters in the federal and state systems over his career that are reported as precedent. He also works with firm attorneys to strengthen the firm's innovative Impact Finance and Social Enterprise team that he founded and that provides representation in diverse transactional areas to nonprofit, for profit and hybrid organizations dedicated to providing basic services to poor persons around the world in areas including microfinance, water, education, energy, housing and health.

Based on his long-standing commitment to access to justice issues, Rene has been appointed to serve as a member of the New York City Bar Association Right to Counsel Task Force and the New York City Bar Association Family Court Judicial Appointment & Assignment Process Work Group. In recognition of his exemplary work in family law, United States District Judge Bloom appointed Rene as a special master in a federal court family law matter in 2014 in the Eastern District of New York in case number 07-cv-02565-ARR-LB, styled Garmhausen et al v. United States Department of Justice et al.

Lorraine McGowen Partner, Restructuring, Bankruptcy Litigation

New York

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D:+1 212 506 5114
E: [email protected]

Practice:

Finance Sector
Restructuring
Bankruptcy Litigation
Municipal Restructuring and Insolvency
Energy & Infrastructure
Mergers & Acquisitions
Structured Finance
Higher Education and Student Loan Financing
Automotive Technology & Mobility

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Lorraine McGowen Partner

New York

Lorraine brings 30+ years of legal experience in bankruptcies, out-of-court restructurings, sovereign debt restructurings and creditors' rights controversies. She interfaces with auditors, government regulators, investment bankers and others, and develops and implements mediation and litigation strategies, and negotiates reorganization plans and complex corporate and finance documents. She also regularly provides commercial law and bankruptcy advice in connection with securitization, M&A, energy & infrastructure and general corporate transactions.

Lorraine has represented various stakeholders in bankruptcies, workouts, distressed debt transactions, sovereign debt restructurings, bankruptcy litigation, derivatives, and distressed acquisition matters such as Suriname, Belize, Puerto Rico, Takata Corporation, Windstream, GTT, Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, Lehman, MF Global, Indiana Toll Road, Chemtura Corporation, Tronox Incorporated, South Bay Expressway, American Dream School, Detroit, General Motors, and Stone & Webster.

Lorraine is a member of Orrick's Management Committee and is Partner in Charge of its global DEI Initiatives. She previously served two terms on the firm’s 11-member Board of Directors and also previously chaired its Restructuring Group.

As a leading DEI advocate, Lorraine creates programs for the legal profession and the community. She was selected as a 2019 Rainmaker by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) and as one of Savoy Magazine’s Most Influential Black Lawyers for 2022, 2018 and 2015 and received Legal Outreach’s Pipeline to Diversity 2017 Champion Award and the New York City Bar Association Diversity and Inclusion 2012 Champion Award. IFLR1000 Rankings named Lorraine a leading lawyer in the U.S. She was selected by Direct Women to be a 2016 Board Institute member. She is a frequent speaker and author on bankruptcy and insolvency and diversity and inclusion.

Among her community involvement, she is a former Vice President and Board Member of the New York City Bar Association and currently co-chairs the City Bar's Digital Assets Task Force. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession and the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, where she is chair of the board, and on the Advisory Committees for Legal Outreach and the Vance Center for International Justice of the City Bar, where she serves as co-chair of the Advisory Committee of the Vance Center.