A Pro Bono Collaboration to Help Innocent Owners Recover Seized Property

In September 2016, United Airlines**, Seyfarth Shaw*, and Cabrini Green Legal Aid (CGLA) began a pro bono collaboration to help low-income individuals in Chicago recover vehicles and other property seized by the police during an arrest. This practice, known as civil asset forfeiture, originally intended to go after crime lords, drug cartels, and white-collar criminals, was being routinely turned against “workaday homes, cars, cash savings, and other belongings of innocent people who are never charged with a crime” in cities throughout the United States, as explained in a 2013 New Yorker article.

In Chicago, police are authorized to seize property suspected of being used in connection with a crime. To recover seized property, property owners, despite never being charged with a crime, must prove they are innocent in two separate asset forfeiture proceedings: (1) the state proceeding initiated by the Cook County State’s Attorney, and (2) the city proceeding handled by the City Department of Administrative Hearings. The Chicago Police Department seizes and impounds thousands of vehicles every year, and virtually none of the people involved have any form of legal assistance to navigate the labyrinthine proceedings to recover their property. Until recently, there were no pro bono or legal aid programs in Chicago offering free legal help in this area.

The collaboration began when United Airlines and Seyfarth Shaw decided to sponsor an Equal Justice Works Fellow to work at CGLA to help innocent owners recover their seized property. Steve Fus, Associate General Counsel at United Airlines, explained that “it was the injustice of it all that was crying out for help” which drew United Airlines’ Legal Department to this project. Allegra Nethery, Pro Bono and Philanthropy Partner at Seyfarth Shaw, described the partnership as addressing “a true unmet legal need” where the clients had no right to counsel, and the private bar was not interested in taking the cases because of their relatively low worth.

Andrew Hemmer, the Equal Justice Works Fellow, trained and mentored volunteer attorneys from United Airlines and Seyfarth Shaw who teamed up to represent individuals whose personal property had been seized. Typically, the clients were innocent owners, and their property was seized because it was allegedly used in connection with a crime unbeknownst to them. Volunteer attorneys shadowed Hemmer at court proceedings as part of their training to learn how these hearings were conducted.

During the two-year span of the fellowship project, 117 clients received legal assistance with 26 of those cases led by volunteers from United Airlines and Seyfarth Shaw. The project also developed a comprehensive set of training materials, sample forms, explanatory step-by-step guides to litigating forfeiture cases, and other materials to assist and guide future claimants

In addition, Hemmer and the project, along with many other advocates, played a role in supporting impactful changes to Illinois civil forfeiture law, including increasing transparency in the forfeiture process and shifting the burden of proof from the property owner to the state. The bill passed with bipartisan support and was signed into law in September 2017.

At United, a large percentage of the legal department participated in trainings for the civil asset forfeiture project, and nine attorneys directly represented clients at civil asset forfeiture trials. Transactional attorneys who had little to no litigation experience were given the opportunity to learn new skills and obtain successful outcomes for their pro bono clients. As Nethery pointed out, “Our very first win was by a corporate associate. You don’t need to be a litigator” to make an impact in delivering pro bono legal services. Fus commented on the value of providing pro bono legal services, “Regardless of what your skills are, it will be beneficial to someone who doesn’t have any [legal training] at all.”

When asked how to replicate this partnership model in other jurisdictions, Nethery advised: “[T]alk to the people involved in the process, find where the cases are being heard, have someone up to date on the process of the law that can train people.”

In October 2018, United Airlines’ Legal Department was presented with the 2018 CPBO Pro Bono Partner Award for their innovative project with Seyfarth Shaw and CGLA. Their project is an example of how legal departments can collaborate to address an unmet legal need in the community and make a lasting impact. The partners had the opportunity to discuss the history and impact of the project and share lessons-learned for their successful pro bono partnership during a recent Pro Bono Institute webinar.

*denotes a Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge® signatory

**denotes a Corporate Pro Bono Challenge® signatory

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