Building RSHC: Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila LLP 2017 Annual Report - Report - Page 16
Recognition
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Immigration
In May 2016, partner Jim
Gaughan and associates Tal
Chaiken and Eli Litoff received
Eight of our lawyers from three offices have been involved in efforts to ensure the
federal government’s immigration policies are consistent with the Constitution.
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awards for Excellence in Pro
Bono and Public Interest
Service from the U.S. District
Court
for
the
Northern
District of Illinois and the
Chicago
chapter
of
the
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Federal Bar Association. They
were recognized for their
efforts on behalf of Bryan
Adams, a diabetic inmate
who was forced to live on a
diet of fast food every day for
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lunch and pizza most days for
dinner while awaiting trial for
more than two years.
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In October 2017, the Chicago
Bar Foundation and Chicago
Bar Association presented
Ron Safer with the prestigious
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Award for his decades of
public service. This award
recognizes his work as a
courageous Assistant United
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relentless criminal defense
lawyer who has helped free
many wrongfully convicted
people from prison.
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A law firm built for clients.®
Throughout 2017, RSHC worked on behalf of Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and
other cities and counties to file amicus briefs in the Supreme Court of the United
States and other federal courts challenging the current administration’s Executive
Orders suspending entry from certain Muslim-majority countries. After the
challengers obtained injunctions enjoining the Orders, the administration revised
the restrictions. The revised restrictions are now being challenged.
Mishan Wroe, Erin Gasparka, and Yakov Wiegmann successfully represented the
ACLU and UC Hastings in a lawsuit against ICE to compel it to comply with a FOIA
request for documents showing the treatment of asylum seekers in detention.
In October 2016, RSHC sued the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
agency on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California,
seeking the release of information on the agency’s treatment of asylum seekers.
Additional Pro Bono Work
Justice John Paul Stevens
States Attorney and as a
In September 2017, the RSHC team, working alongside lawyers from another
large firm, persuaded U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber to enter a nationwide
injunction enjoining the U.S. Attorney General from imposing numerous conditions
on federal funding in an effort to deny funding to Chicago and other so-called
“sanctuary” cities. The Attorney General has appealed the Court’s order, and Riley
Safer Holmes & Cancila will continue fighting for Chicago in the Seventh Circuit.
Heidi Dalenberg presently serves as co-counsel with the ACLU of Illinois
representing children in the care of the Illinois Department of Children and
Family Services in B.H. v. Walker. The plaintiff children sued for violation of their
constitutional and other rights, alleging that Illinois was failing to provide them
with even minimally adequate care. The Department entered into a Consent
Decree more than 20 years ago promising reform, and proceedings to enforce the
B.H. Decree are active and ongoing to this day.
A group of RSHC lawyers, Dave Resnicoff, Kate Stimeling, and Nathan Howze,
advised and represented the non-profit group, March to Action, LLC, a Chicagobased non-profit organization that coalesced to provide free transportation to
Washington DC for the Women’s March on Washington in January 2017. The
RSHC team advised the group about corporate formation and liability issues, and
March to Action successfully and historically provided bus services for 150 women
to and from the March.
Meghan McMeel and Ed Casmere negotiated and crafted a donor agreement that
allowed a same-sex couple to secure the ability to attempt in vitro fertilization and
defined parental rights.
Josh Lee and Ed Casmere negotiated and settled a commercial dispute for a small
not-for-profit homeowners’ association.
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