O'Melveny's 2018-2019 Pro Bono Review

O’MELVENY PRO BONO PROGRAM REVIEW 2018- 2019 22 Megan Havstad, counsel in O’Melveny’s San Francisco office, represented her first pro bono client at two parole hearings, which resulted in her release after a long incarceration. Megan then helped secure the release of a second client on parole, after multiple challenges to the parole process itself brought in the California Court of Appeal. These cases informed her view of the criminal justice system and reinforced her belief in the importance of sound legal representation for indigent defendants. “I was— and still am—frustrated by the way people are treated by the system post-conviction,” says Megan. “I realized it was important for me to get involved and make an impact.” Megan’s interest in criminal justice led her to a secondment at the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office for four months in early 2019. There, she handled nearly 50 cases PRO BONO SPOTLIGHT Megan Havstad at a time, filed dozens of motions, appeared at countless arraignments and pleas, won several dismissals, and completed three jury trials, resulting in one hung jury and one hard-fought acquittal. “It changed my perspective entirely on what happens day-to-day in a criminal court,” Megan says. “It has made me far more sympathetic to the everyday struggles of the San Franciscans who end up in criminal court, and taught me what it means to fight for the humanity of a client when everyone else wants to forget it. There’s a lot of room for improvement in the criminal justice system.” As a litigator, Megan says that working on pro bono criminal matters has given her insight into the psychology of judges and juries, which will affect her strategic thinking on future cases. She also had to be self-reliant as a public defender, driving her own cases through trial without the benefit of an O’Melveny team. Such independence accelerated her professional development, to be sure, but it also gave her new appreciation for her colleagues. So her future clients will now have a lawyer who thinks independently but appreciates the advice and support of her team, with a passion for criminal justice reform and a desire to make an impact. Four months well spent. the panel found. “We conclude that the sentencing error in Lester’s case is ‘sufficiently grave to be deemed a fundamental defect.’” This precedent-setting victory in the Fourth Circuit also resulted in Mr. Lester’s release from prison. A Victory for Prisoners’ Rights Daaron McAdoo, an inmate in Arkansas, fractured his shoulder when prison officials broke up a fight between him and another inmate. After prison officials, citing the facility’s narcotics-free policy, refused to provide him with prescribed medication, Mr. McAdoo filed suit seeking compensatory and punitive damages. While a district court concluded that denying prescribed medication amounted to deliberate indifference to Mr. McAdoo’s medical needs in violation of the Eighth Amendment, the court also determined that it did not have the authority to award damages under the prison litigation reform act (PLRA). The court reasoned that Mr. McAdoo’s pain did not satisfy the PLRA’s requirement that a prisoner establish “a prior showing of physical injury” to recover compensatory damages. Working with the MacArthur Justice Center, O’Melveny won on appeal of the case in the Eighth Circuit. The court remanded the case to the district court to determine and award compensatory damages to Mr. McAdoo and to provide him with medication. The Eighth Circuit ruled that his fractured shoulder constituted “a severe physical injury that meets the PLRA’s requirements.” His severe pain, the court explained, “flowed directly from that physical injury.” In addition to helping Mr. McAdoo, the decision also has significant implications for other prisoners seeking damages for violations of their rights.