Gay Rights.  Kramer Levin has assumed an increasingly prominent role in pro bono work in the area of gay and lesbian rights.

Kramer Levin helped achieve a potentially historic victory for civil rights in New York State early in 2005 when Justice Doris Ling-Cohan of New York County Supreme Court ruled in Hernandez v. Robles that the right to participate in civil marriage cannot constitutionally be denied to same-sex couples.  The court found that the five plaintiff couples, who represent a broad ethnic and economic cross-section of New York families, were unnecessarily harmed by being excluded from this fundamental civil institution and that barring them from marrying violated their rights to liberty and equal protection under the New York State Constitution.

The court recognized a strong parallel to the irrational restrictions on interracial marriage that survived into the 1960’s and concluded: “Similar to opposite sex couples, same-sex couples are entitled to the same fundamental right to follow their hearts and publicly commit to a lifetime partnership with the person of their choosing.  The recognition that this fundamental right applies equally to same-sex couples cannot legitimately be said to harm anyone.”

The case was brought by Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the nation’s oldest and largest organization devoted to advancing the rights of lesbians and gay men, with Kramer Levin as co-counsel.  The Kramer Levin team is led by Jeff Trachtman and Norm Simon , who assisted Lambda Legal on several earlier landmark cases, including Lawrence v. Texas .  The core litigation team has also included Tricia Seith, Aaron Frankel, and Michael Sternhell, who worked with the plaintiffs and their relatives to prepare affidavits that demonstrated the impact of the marriage ban on real families, and other important contributions to the case have been made by Owen Glist, Kerri Ann Law, Jeffrey Ourvan, Jen Rochon, Patricia Ronan, Eric Shimanoff, Paul Schoeman, Steve Sparling, Joel Taylor, Eric Tirschwell , and Jen Brevaire, as well as then-summer associates Michael Brooks, Adam Busch, Michael Feuer, Aaron Fleisher, Emily Groendyke, Matthew Keller, Alison Monahan, Arielle Warshall, Julie Weiswasser, and Jean Paul Ciardullo.  Kramer Levin is continuing to work alongside Lambda Legal to defend this decision on appeal.

In a matter bridging gay rights and September 11th issues, Eric Shimanoff, Kerri Ann Law, and Jeff Trachtman are representing the same-sex domestic partner of a September 11th victim in connection with her claim for compensation from the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.  Because the victim died intestate and her family refused to recognize our client’s partnership with the victim, our client was unable to act as the victim’s personal representative.  Eric and Kerri Ann persuaded the Special Master to increase the award to recognize the domestic partnership.  Unfortunately, once the Fund issued the full award to the victim’s brother in his role as personal representative, the brother declined to distribute any portion of the award to our client, as the Special Master had intended, forcing the matter into litigation.  During 2004, the Kramer Levin team obtained rulings (now being defended on appeal) sustaining the complaint and requiring the brother to maintain the fund in escrow pending resolution of the dispute.  Then-summer associates Emily Groendyke and Jessica Tuchinsky assisted on the matter.

Police Treatment of the Mentally Ill.  As the result of a report authored by Jeremy Cohen and Charlotte Fischman , working with the Urban Justice Center and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill — NYC Metro Chapter, the NYPD has made major changes in its training curriculum dealing with police treatment of emotionally disturbed persons in New York City.  The curriculum has been revamped and improved and the NYPD has created a Police-Mental Health Advisory Committee that includes the New York City Division of Mental Health, educators and providers, advocates and representatives of the Police Executive Research Forum.  Charlotte is a member of this Advisory Committee, which is attempting to deal with the problems that result when people with mental illness end up in the criminal justice system.

Voting Rights.  The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) is a 30-year old New York based organization that protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans through litigation, legal advocacy, and community education.  Albert Chen, Aaron Frankel, Debbie Lee, Jay Park, and Michael Yap served in AALDEF’s annual voting rights protection project as polling monitors and exit poll representatives.  Each year, volunteers in the AALDEF project observe voting procedures at various polling sites and ensure that any irregularities, complaints, or violations of law are properly reported to government regulators.  In 2004, approximately 100 attorneys from the New York area volunteered to monitor 150 polling sites. 

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