Arnold & Porter Secures Pro Bono Victory Defending Client's Right To Counsel

On December 21, 2021, an Arnold & Porter pro bono team convinced a federal court to vacate the conviction and life sentence of a man who had been convicted in violation of the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of effective trial counsel. The case reaffirms Arnold & Porter's decades-long commitment to ensuring that criminal defendants have access to adequate representation-including the firm's pathbreaking work in the landmark Supreme Court case of Gideon v. Wainwright, argued by Arnold & Porter founding partner Abe Fortas, which secured the constitutional right to counsel.

In 2012, prior to the firm's involvement, the man had been interrogated by federal agents, who elicited incriminating statements without providing Miranda warnings regarding his right to remain silent and have an attorney present. The man was subsequently arrested on federal felony charges, but his court-appointed trial lawyer did not seek to have those statements suppressed. As a result, he was