Mass Lawyer's Weekly

The Big Picture: Human(e) services

by Robert S. Duboff and Nancy L. Neufer
July 31, 2008

A large-scale pro bono effort by attorneys in the Boston office of
McDermott, Will & Emery has yielded a similarly sized victory for abused and
neglected children in Michigan.

Last month, it was announced that the Michigan Department of Human Services
would settle a federal class action lawsuit that accused the department of
violating the constitutional rights of 19,000 abused and neglected children
in its custody.

The settlement, reached on the eve of trial, calls for the establishment of
a Children’s Services Administration that would be charged with moving more
than 6,000 youngsters into permanent homes and making major improvements in
the state’s foster care system.

MW&E became involved at the behest of Children’s Rights, a national advocacy
group that has had similar success in other states.

“I had indicated my interest in getting involved in a systemic reform case,”
says Edward P. Leibensperger, who led the Boston trial team along with
associates Kevin M. Bolan and Sana Abdullah.

According to Leibensperger, the firm spent more than 1,500 hours on the case
— a number he expects will increase when a fairness hearing takes place
before the judge who has to approve the settlement.

The firm also advanced “hundreds of thousands of dollars” for expenses, such
as expert witnesses and deposition costs, Leibensperger says. The agreement
allows the lawyers to petition the court so that they can be reimbursed for
those costs. “They put up the money with no guarantee that we would win the
case and that it would be paid back,” he says.

Efforts to settle the case last year broke down, and the lawyers assumed
they were headed to trial. But, “at the last minute, the governor of
Michigan, through her counsel, contacted us and asked us back” to the
bargaining table, says Leibensperger.

Within 24 hours, a deal was in the works.