What Lawyering is All About
January 7, 2008, The National Law Journal

The National Law Journal published its 2008 Pro Bono Awards, and ran a feature article about the nature of pro bono work and why it is so important for law firms to continue it, even though the payoffs for the lawyers involved are few and far between.  The article highlighted the Aaron Lee Jones death penalty case, in whose defense Vincent R. FitzPatrick and Heather K. McDevitt, both partners in the Litigation Practice at White & Case, worked until he was executed by lethal injection on May 3, 2007.  The case was not selected for the award because significant litigation is pending before the Supreme Court regarding whether or not lethal injection constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, one of the issues FitzPatrick and McDevitt, along with a team of White & Case associates, brought to court on Jones's behalf.

Aaron Lee Jones was tried, convicted and executed in Alabama, where FitzPatrick and McDevitt will try a lethal injection challenge on behalf of two other condemned inmates later this year.

These cases can be "devastating personally," McDevitt told The National Law Journal. "But to me, this is what lawyering is all about. Sometimes you end up taking a matter that has a low chance of succeeding. Obviously, you hope and work as hard as you can to win. It doesn't always happen that way, but you do everything you possibly can do."

"Alabama doesn't supply lawyers in post-conviction death cases," McDevitt continued.  "We are large law firms.  We have resources and the ability. It is imperative that we fulfill our pro bono obligation in these kinds of cases." 

Since 1992, White & Case worked more than 14,000 hours on Jones's case.