Money bail challengers hire large firms to try federal lawsuits

The plaintiffs in a pair of high-stakes lawsuits challenging cash bail in California have added firepower to their legal teams.

Earlier this month, Equal Justice Under Law filed a motion to add Latham & Watkins LLP partners Robert E. Sims and Steven M. Bauer as pro bono counsel. Buffin et al. v. City and County of San Francisco, 15-CV4959 (N.D. Cal., filed Oct. 28, 2015).

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers approved motions to add three lawyers to a related case, Dupree v. Hennessy, 18-CV310 (N.D. Cal., filed Jan. 14, 2018).

The new attorneys are from Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym Ltd. in Chicago: firm president Matthew J. Piers, partner Chirag G. Badlani and associate Kate E. Schwartz.

Piers is known for winning a $17 million Title VII settlement for women workers against Walgreens Company, as well as for a successful employment discrimination challenge on behalf of African Americans who had applied to be firefighters in Chicago.

Both the Buffin and Dupree cases are challenges to the bail system in San Francisco, but use different constitutional arguments. Last month, Gonzalez Rogers approved a motion from plaintiffs' counsel in Dupree to relate the cases.

Equal Justice brought in the Latham partners in response to a December order from Gonzalez Rogers to add experienced class counsel.

"Steve Bauer and Bob Sims both bring tremendous class action and trial skills from decades of experience in complex litigation," said Phil Telfeyan, executive director of Washington, D.C.-based Equal Justice Under Law. "They are passionate about the cause, and Latham & Watkins has shown an impressive commitment to pro bono work."

"We welcome the addition of Latham & Watkins to this case," said attorney Harmeet Dhillon of Dhillon Law Group Inc. in San Francisco, who is defending the Buffin challenge on behalf of the California Bail Agents Association.

"Having been up against them in court before, I have respect for the firm and its lawyers and look forward to working together to build the record the court has asked the parties to build so she can ultimately rule on this important issue," Dhillon said.

Both Bauer and Sims work in Latham's San Francisco office. They're known for defending Pacific Gas & Electric Company from criminal charges related to the deadly 2010 San Bruno gas explosion.

The recently filed Dupree case was brought by the San Francisco County public defender's office. The team already included attorneys from Covington & Burling LLP, the same law firm that has been advising the California Senate on battles with the Trump administration and where former U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is a partner.

Representatives of Latham and Hughes Socol declined to comment for this story.