District of Columbia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, Inc.

D.C. residents continue to be denied voting representation in Congress, even though Congress is the city’s ultimate governing body. DC Appleseed has served as the primary legal architect of the effort to give the District voting rights, and is devising both local and federal strategies to bring full democracy to D.C. residents.
Pro bono partners: Arent Fox LLP; Jenner & Block; Latham & Watkins LLP; Perkins Coie LLP; and Sidley Austin LLP.

DC Appleseed is working to transform the Anacostia River from one of the nation’s most polluted into a national model for urban river revitalization by advocating for reductions in stormwater pollution, sewer overflows, and toxic contamination. Pro bono partners: Covington & Burling LLP; Gilbert LLP; Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP; Squire Patton Boggs LLP; and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.

Because two-thirds of the working poor families in the District are headed by single women, DC Appleseed is working to design career ladders, raise wages and improve working conditions in occupations dominated by women, in particular home health care. This work is part of DC Appleseed’s participation in The Working Poor Families Project. Pro bono partners: Arnold & Porter LLP.

Despite having some of the highest health insurance coverage rates in the nation, D.C. children suffer disproportionately from a host of chronic health problems, including asthma and obesity. DC Appleseed has partnered with Children’s National Medical Center, the Urban Institute, and the DC Promise Neighborhood Initiative (DCPNI) to address disparities and improve health outcomes for children, particularly in low-income families. Pro bono partner: Mayer Brown LLP and Skadden.

For many years we have advocated for enhancing the integrity and independence of the D.C. Office of the Attorney General. We urged letting voters decide whether they wanted an elected Attorney General in a 2010 referendum. After voters decided that they did, we worked to ensure that the first election takes place in 2014, successfully arguing in an amicus brief that the D.C. Court of Appeals should consider that this was the people’s intent in the referendum. Pro bono partners: Goldblatt Martin Pozen LLP; Latham & Watkins LLP; Perkins Coie LLP; and Troutman Sanders LLP.

DC Appleseed is advocating for publicly financed elections in D.C, so that local government is more responsive to the public interest, to lessen corporate involvement in elections, and to help restore public trust in government.

CareFirst—the largest health insurance company in the region—was chartered by Congress as a “charitable and benevolent” non-profit, and under District law must maintain a surplus consistent with its obligation to maximize community health reinvestment. In 2012, we won a sweeping decision by the D.C. Court of Appeals that the former D.C. Insurance Commissioner failed to apply that law. We are now participating in the current Commissioner’s review of the company’s nearly $1 billion surplus. Pro bono partners: Covington & Burling LLP; Harkins Cunningham LLP; and Mathematica Policy Research.

Child support helps lift children out of poverty, but most of the children in the District’s child support system—30,000 out of 50,000—do not receive the child support they are owed. DC Appleseed is working to increase collaboration between the District’s workforce development and child support enforcement systems to help low-income parents earn sufficient incomes to pay their child support. Pro bono partner: Crowell & Moring LLP.

DC Appleseed is helping the District raise the quality of its early childhood education system by advocating better compensation and access to higher education for early childhood teachers, especially those who work in community-based programs. This work is part of our Working Poor Families initiative. Pro bono partners: Squire Patton Boggs LLP and Zuckerman Spaeder LLP.

DC Appleseed is working to improve D.C. residents’ opportunities to make timely, informed choices about the nature of care they wish to receive at the end of their lives. We also seek to improve the medical community’s ability to respond to these choices. Pro bono partners: Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP; Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP; and Shipman & Goodwin LLP.

DC Appleseed is advocating for the Council’s authority to enact sensible gun control measures consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller. We seek to defend the District’s gun laws from undue congressional interference.
Pro bono partners: Arent Fox LLP; Harkins Cunningham LLP; and Hogan Lovells LLP.

DC Appleseed is advocating for ensuring that affordable housing is provided whenever the District disposes of public land for private residential development. A D.C. Council committee unanimously approved a bill establishing this requirement, and it will likely go before the full body this fall. This proposal was guided by our experience monitoring development along the Anacostia Waterfront to ensure that legal obligations for affordable housing are met there. Pro bono partners: Deloitte & Touche US LLP; Holland & Knight LLP; Steptoe & Johnson LLP.

Much of the District’s drinking water flows through lead pipes, creating the potential for spikes in lead levels that can pose a special threat to the health and development of young children. DC Appleseed is advocating for better monitoring and public reporting of lead levels, improved communication when elevated lead levels are suspected in a community, greater education on the dangers of lead exposure and measures residents can take to reduce exposure. Pro bono partners: Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.

DC Appleseed continues to advocate for strategies that will reduce the District’s reliance on litigation to resolve special education disputes, in order to help special education students get the services they need and get them more quickly. Our current effort focuses on improving the likelihood of success for special education students who are returning to the District from non-public schools. Pro bono partners: DLA Piper LLP and Reed Smith LLP.

DC Appleseed is advocating for the District to reform its federally-funded workforce development system—including its one-stop career centers—to better meet the needs of both job seekers and businesses. Pro bono partner: Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP.

DC Appleseed worked with the District to create a Workforce Intermediary to match hospitality and construction employers with qualified District residents as new jobs become available. Pro bono partner: Steptoe & Johnson LLP.

In 2013, D.C. voters overwhelmingly ratified a Charter amendment giving the District the right to spend local revenue without an affirmative act of Congress. We developed the legal theory behind the amendment and successfully advocated for its approval by the D.C. Council and the Board of Elections. We are now supporting the Council’s lawsuit to enforce the new law and coordinated the filing of several amicus briefs. Pro bono partners: Arent Fox LLP; Goldblatt Martin Pozen LLP; Latham & Watkins LLP; and Perkins Coie LLP.