Why Bondurant

Pro bono work has been deeply ingrained in Bondurant’s culture since its inception. When Emmet Bondurant was just 26, he argued Wesberry v. Sanders before the U.S. Supreme Court, helping to secure the landmark “one person, one vote” ruling that transformed American democracy. Emmet often said what shaped him most was how his law firm supported him throughout that fight, and he carried that ethos with him when he founded this firm. He also reminded us that in some cases, even when we are right, we may not prevail. But that never means the work was for naught. View Video: Emmet J. Bondurant, Two-Party Georgia Oral History Project

That legacy continues today. Pro bono is part of our culture at Bondurant. Not only is pro bono work encouraged, but our attorneys have the freedom to pursue causes they care about. The firm’s commitment to pro bono work is not an afterthought; we bring the same level of support and expertise to our pro bono cases as we do to all of our work.  The commitment to service reflects our belief that advocacy changes communities for the better.

• Served on the legal team that challenged Georgia’s six-week abortion ban alongside the ACLU of Georgia, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and the Center for Reproductive Rights, on behalf of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective.
• Successfully challenged Georgia’s photo ID requirement for in-person voting, leading to the repeal and modification of the law. 
• Bondurant attorneys, along with a Kirkland & Ellis team, secured a victory for a Georgia inmate, highlighting systemic issues in prison healthcare and setting a precedent for future advocacy on constitutional rights and medical access for the incarcerated. 
• Appointed by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals to represent an incarcerated veteran in an appeal raising constitutional challenges to service-connected disability law. 
• Appointed by the federal court to represent an indigent, incarcerated, homeless individual in false arrest and excessive force §1983 civil rights claims against a county police department and its officers. 
• Briefed and argued a successful appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Gooden v. USA, Civ. Action No. 09-10499-CC (11th Cir.), arising from a habeas corpus petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2255. 
• Class counsel for youth in DeKalb County Jail denied education services; secured favorable settlements with the State DOE and local school system, and won summary judgment against the Sheriff. 
• Secured asylum for two Afghan refugees who fled after the U.S. withdrawal, allowing them to resettle permanently in Atlanta. 
• Successfully represented senior citizens along with attorneys from the Atlanta Legal Aid Society in a case against a high-interest loan company. 
• Represented capital defense groups over Georgia’s breach of a Covid-related execution halt, securing a preliminary injunction and unanimous Georgia Supreme Court ruling upholding the agreement. 
• Represented long-jailed juvenile offenders who claim that the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole is failing to honor the Constitution’s requirement to treat juvenile offenders differently based on their capacity for maturation and rehabilitation.
• Secured the release of a man wrongfully detained at Guantanamo Bay by filing a habeas corpus petition in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, leading to his release after five years. 
• Represented a client serving a life sentence in state post-conviction proceedings, securing a unanimous Georgia Supreme Court affirmance of habeas relief, a case featured in season one of the AJC Podcast, “Breakdown.“
• Represented Georgia Equality as amicus curiae before the United States Supreme Court in Bostock and the related landmark Title VII sexual orientation and gender discrimination cases. 
• Obtained summary judgment for a client sued for libel by a former Georgia gubernatorial candidate.  
• Successfully represented a Georgia prisoner in an Americans with Disability Act and §1983 action defeating state motions and securing full monetary demand plus significant non-monetary relief.
• Represented amici, including former prosecutors, in challenging Johnny Lee Gates’ conviction for prosecutorial misconduct, leading to his release 43 years after a death sentence. 
• Achieved a successful outcome for an inmate abused by a prison official. 
• Assisted tenants facing eviction through the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation’s Eviction Defense Program. 
• Led the representation of the Legislative Black Caucus of Georgia, Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, and the League of United Latin American Citizens in challenging Georgia’s 2011 redistricting plans. 
• Challenged Georgia’s lethal injection secrecy act on behalf of a death row inmate, including oral argument before the Georgia Supreme Court. 
• Secured a favorable result for an elected official asserting a defamation claim related to false political advertising. 
• Emmet Bondurant represented Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District in securing a 6-3 victory in the U.S. Supreme Court. The court’s majority in Wesberry v. Sanders holds that a 1931 apportionment plan that resulted in the Fifth District’s congressman representing two to three times as many voters as congressmen from the state’s other districts discriminated against voters of the 5th District.

• Successfully represented lawyer Elizabeth A. Hishon before the U.S. Supreme Court under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act for sex discrimination. The court’s decision ruled that law firms are subject to federal discrimination laws, even though they are private partnerships.
• Co-lead counsel with Children’s Rights in the prosecution of a class action resulting in systemic reform of the State of Georgia’s dysfunctional foster care system and establishing that foster children have a right to counsel.
• Special Assistant District Attorney in the successful prosecution of Sidney Dorsey, the former sheriff of DeKalb County, Georgia, on charges including murder and RICO. 
• Co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs’ class in Flournoy v. State, which was successful in obtaining statewide civil rights enforcement relief for a class of indigent defendants deprived of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel.
• Represented plaintiffs in Rucho v. Common Cause, 139 S. Ct. 2484 (2019), a constitutional challenge to the partisan gerrymandering of North Carolina’s congressional districts.