White & Case wins National Law Journal's 2024 DC Diversity Initiative of the Year award

White & Case LLP won the National Law Journal's 2024 DC Diversity Initiative of the Year award for its work through the Racial Justice Task Force (Task Force). This is the second time in three years (along with 2022) that the Task Force has won the award. Last year, the Firm was "highly commended."

The Task Force is a Firmwide initiative that has engaged in more than 100 multidisciplinary and multijurisdictional pro bono matters to advance racial equality. Launched in 2020 by the Firm's Global Antitrust Group, the Task Force now boasts over 170 members across 13 White & Case offices in the US, Europe, and Asia. Its projects focus on criminal justice reform, mentorship and education, and economic empowerment.

Three notable achievements identified by the National Law Journal are:

• Defeated defendants' motion to dismiss based on qualified immunity: The Firm and the ACLU of Louisiana jointly represent Malikah Asante-Chioke in a civil rights lawsuit in federal court. Ms. Asante-Chioke's father was gunned down by police officers when he was having a mental health issue. The officers fired 36 shots, hitting him 24 times. The Firm is prosecuting civil rights claims against the police officers and their supervisors. In August 2023, the Firm defeated the defendants' motion to dismiss based on qualified immunity, a rarity in district courts in the Fifth Circuit.
• Six clients home via Washington, DC's Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act: The Firm represents nine individuals eligible to be resentenced under Washington, DC's Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act (IRAA). The IRAA's aim is to recognize individuals' potential for rehabilitation and reverse racially discriminatory sentencing schemes. Since partnering with the Second Look Project, a DC-based nonprofit that provides legal support for individuals given extreme sentences as youth, in 2021, the Firm has successfully represented six clients in resentencing cases. Our work has resulted in sentences for as long as life without the possibility of parole being reduced to time served, which has allowed our clients to come home to their families immediately.
• Resentencing in Maryland: In 2021, Maryland enacted the Juvenile Restoration Act (JRA)—modeled after Washington, DC's IRAA—which allows individuals who were convicted of a crime when they were under 18 and who have served 20 years of their sentence to seek a sentence reduction. The Decarceration Initiative of the Maryland Office of the Public Defender focuses on reducing mass incarceration by providing representation to eligible incarcerated individuals. Since 2023, the Firm has been representing three clients through the initiative.

"We are incredibly honored to receive this award," said Dana Foster. "This award reaffirms our dedication to creating a more just world through meaningful advocacy and systemic change, and fostering diversity, equity and inclusion within our Firm and in society at large. Thank you to the entire team for their outstanding work and unwavering commitment to fighting racial injustice."