Careers

Community Impact

We seek out high-impact pro bono cases that effect change.

And we see these cases through, taking them to trial, even to the U.S. Supreme Court. For example, Munger, Tolles & Olson attorneys:

  • Defeated legal challenge to the historic return of Bruce’s Beach to the family that lost its Manhattan Beach business and property through a racially discriminatory condemnation action nearly 100 years ago.
  • Obtained a class-wide preliminary injunction barring the City of Los Angeles from enforcing “gang injunctions.”
  • Secured a historic preliminary injunction that eliminated the blocked cash bail system in Los Angeles County for individuals arrested on most low-level, non-violent offenses.
  • Secured settlement ending ICE’s use of private contractors for immigration arrests in California and imposing a monitoring period to ensure compliance with the settlement.
  • Partnered with the ACLU to successfully exonerate a man who spent 23 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
  • Won several cases that allowed immigrants fleeing from violence in their native countries to remain in the United States.
  • Historic settlement reached in a case brought by Represented families of Sandy Hook massacre victims in defeating certiorari petition by gun manufacturer Remington.
  • Achieved significant victories challenging law enforcement’s response to COVID-19 in jails across the country, including a temporary restraining order in Tulare County, California, and a preliminary injunction in Washington, D.C., both requiring social distancing, masking and other improved conditions; and a ground-breaking order in Orange County, California, requiring the sheriff to reduce the jail’s population to 50% of the pre-pandemic population.
  • Represented the United States House of Representatives before the U.S. Supreme Court in California v. Texas, an extremely consequential case in which Texas and other states are seeking to invalidate the Affordable Care Act on constitutional grounds. After intervening in the Court of Appeals to defend the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, the House of Representatives succeeded in convincing the Supreme Court to grant certiorari and hear the case, which was argued by Donald Verrilli in November 2020. As Solicitor General in the Obama administration, Mr. Verrilli successfully defended the Affordable Care Act before the Supreme Court in March 2012.

All attorneys enjoy tremendous latitude in the kinds of pro bono cases they take on and are encouraged to find matters that are meaningful to them. The firm treats pro bono hours the same as billable time, and there is no cap on the hours that an attorney may devote to pro bono work.

Key pro bono headlines include:

 

 

Our lawyers are also actively involved with nonprofit boards and civic work, including the RAND Civil Justice Institute, Mayo Clinic, the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation (JNE) of the California Bar, California Fair Political Practices Commission, the California Women’s Law Center and anti-poverty non-profit LIFT-LA. We encourage and support all attorneys to find ways to become involved in the community.

Meet Our Lawyers

Meet Our Lawyers

Meet some of our lawyers and learn about their experiences at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP.