Pro Bono Innovators 2024 Honoree Willkie Farr & Gallagher

In our 2024 edition of Pro Bono Innovators, Bloomberg Law honors Willkie Farr & Gallagher for winning a $148.1 million jury verdict in a federal trial court for Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and Ruby Freeman in a defamation case against Rudy Giuliani. The mother and daughter were Fulton County, Georgia election workers during the 2020 presidential election. The firm is also noted for its work in Toomey v. State of Arizona, in which a federal court approved a class settlement prohibiting Arizona from excluding gender-affirming care from its employee health plans.

Your firm’s key matters included successfully representing Georgia election workers in Freeman v. Giuliani, a defamation case against Rudy Giuliani in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, following his comments suggesting they undermined the 2020 presidential election. (Other defendants settled before the case went to trial.) In another case, your team secured the approval of a class settlement in federal court upholding transgender rights in Arizona. How did your firm strategize on how to approach these matters?

For both of these matters, we worked hand-in-hand with our co-counsel, Protect Democracy, in the Giuliani case, and the National ACLU LGBTQ Project and ACLU of Arizona in the Toomey case—to develop our strategy. We worked in tandem with co-counsel from the very beginning and were constantly refining our approach as the cases progressed. Part of the reason for our success has been our ability to adapt to the situation as the facts changed, so regular meetings and check-ins with co-counsel were a critical piece of that puzzle.

We also had a leg up in each of these cases because the firm had previously undertaken similar work that informed our approach and strategy.

In the case of Giuliani, Willkie partners Mike Gottlieb and Meryl Governski previously represented Aaron Rich, the brother of Seth Rich, a DNC staffer killed in the summer of 2016 who became the subject of a viral conspiracy accusing him of hacking the Democratic National Committee. Willkie represented Aaron in a defamation lawsuit against accusations that he had assisted his brother in the commission of alleged crimes. Gottlieb earlier had represented owners of Comet Pizza, who were the target of the “Pizzagate” conspiracy that went viral during the 2016 election cycle.

We had a similar situation with the Toomey case because Willkie had already secured a major victory on the same issue when a federal court ruled that an exclusion for gender-affirming surgery in Georgia’s state health-care plans was impermissible in the Lange v. Houston County case.

Because of this, we had a strong foundation to work from in developing our strategy. By building upon Willkie’s prior successes, the teams were able to leverage our institutional knowledge to refine our approach, including understanding the best claims to bring, how to approach discovery, and what might resonate with a jury (in the Giuliani case) or the judge (in the Toomey case). This approach also ensured we had access to a wealth of knowledge and guidance from attorneys who worked on those earlier cases and served as a critical resource and sounding board for our strategic development.

What were the most innovative aspects of two of your client matters in your view? And who took the lead on driving innovation with the work?

In the last 10 years, as information sharing has become easier and more widespread than ever before, there has been a surge of powerful people using platforms to spread intentional lies for their own personal, political, and financial interests. Sometimes private citizens, like our clients, Fulton County, Georgia election workers, Ruby Freeman and (Wandrea’) Shaye Moss wind up caught in the crossfire through no fault of their own.

Rudy Giuliani used his power, access and platform to defame our clients, who courageously served as election workers in the midst of a pandemic, as part of his campaign to overturn the 2020 election results.

After then-President Trump lost the election, Giuliani accused them of committing election fraud and stealing the state of Georgia for President Biden. Willkie chose to represent Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss pro bono to empower them to hold Giuliani accountable and show the world that men in power are not immune to consequences.

The Giuliani case is one of the first to hold a major public figure accountable in spreading disinformation about the 2020 election in a tangible way. While criminal cases continue to work their way through the courts, the Giuliani case has not only provided relief for our clients, but it also has sent a powerful message that victims of political disinformation will not stay silent.

At first blush, bringing such cases on behalf of individuals may not seem like they would lead to systemic change, but they have become critical tools in our arsenal to combat disinformation and corruption at the highest levels. Willkie’s work on these cases has shown that the powerful cannot bend our system of justice to their whim.

From successfully pursuing multiple motions to compel Giuliani to comply with discovery obligations, to obtaining a default judgment in connection with his flagrant disregard for those obligations, to ensuring our clients can enforce the judgment he sought to avoid paying (including by seeking bankruptcy only to refuse to play by those rules, too). Willkie’s innovative litigation strategy has delivered tangible results for our clients and society at large.

We have also taken a targeted approach to push for societal change for disenfranchised people through our work fighting for transgender rights on the state level. First, in Cruz v. Zucker, Willkie, working with the Legal Aid Society of New York and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, successfully challenged the New York Medicaid program’s blanket ban on funding gender-affirming care in 2016.

After successfully opposing a discriminatory Georgia policy that excluded gender-affirming care from its employee health plans several years later in Lange v. Houston County, our Willkie team extended the reach of its victory in the Toomey v. Arizona case by successfully challenging a similar policy in the state of Arizona.

Thanks to our persistent and innovative litigation strategy, precedent has been set for similar challenges across the country. In this area, too, we have taken a concentrated approach to use our prior pro bono experience and build on earlier victories to achieve large-scale change.

Tell us more about the impact of these two matters on the local, national, and/or global level.

Both of these matters have made a significant impact on a national scale.

Georgia election workers defamation case: The Giuliani case demonstrated to the American public and bad actors that there are real consequences for intentionally spreading political disinformation. For Giuliani, it meant a jury finding him personally liable to Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss for nearly $150 million, which Willkie has spent nearly a year working to collect.

The case also resulted in Giuliani’s explicit acknowledgment that he lied about our clients, and by extension the 2020 election results. The public’s perception of the legitimacy of our elections and the notion that no one is above the law provide a critical safeguard for democracy.

Given the ongoing attacks on the integrity of our elections—and in particular against election workers on whom our country depends to properly function—the American public seeing real consequences and an acknowledgment of wrongdoing by one of the most visible proponents of 2020 election misinformation is a huge victory for the country.

Arizona transgender rights case: The consent decree entered in the Toomey case has obvious state-level impact: The state of Arizona can never again categorically exclude medically necessary gender-affirming care from its employee health plans—regardless of which party is in power.

This is a victory for Professor Russell Toomey, all other Arizona public employees seeking this care today and countless individuals going forward. And the impact of this outcome extends much further, especially when considered with Willkie’s other recent victories in this area, because it establishes early precedent that policies excluding gender-affirming care are not permissible under federal law, no matter what state is proposing it.

More broadly, the firm’s commitment to transgender rights contributes to the wider national and international efforts to advance equitable treatment of transgender people.

Why do you think your team ultimately achieved successful results in these two matters?

Commitment has been the most critical factor to the success of these cases: Willkie’s commitment to pro bono, our clients’ commitment to justice, and our partners’ commitment to these important causes.

Taking on the powerful and demanding systemic change necessarily means that our adversaries will pull out all the stops to prevail. Thankfully, Willkie has the resources, experience and firepower to respond. But we can only do so with a genuine commitment from the attorneys, paralegals, and staff from Willkie who sacrificed many, many working hours litigating the cases.

Likewise, we could not have done that without the significant investment in our efforts from the firm at every level. Firm leadership has shown steadfast commitment to these pro bono cases and encouraged the teams litigating them to expend whatever time and resources are necessary to achieve success.

Our pro bono clients’ commitment has been just as integral. Our clients in these cases have a critical commonality: an unwavering commitment to their cause in spite of seemingly insurmountable odds. We were only successful because we had incredible clients who had the courage to stand up to the man who ruined their lives in court—taking the witness stand under oath and telling the truth in front of him.

Similarly, Professor Russell Toomey was forced to fight for his right to necessary medical treatment for years—demanding equal treatment for himself and others like him from both his employer and the state of Arizona. Our clients’ fearlessness was an inspiration to the attorneys working on their cases and served as a constant guiding light in the strategy and development of the cases.

Finally, success would not have been possible without the commitment of our pro bono partners, who provide subject-matter knowledge and guidance day-in and day-out. In the Giuliani case, Protect Democracy’s steadfast commitment to combatting misinformation was evident in every interaction and the substantial role they played in discovery and argument.

Von DuBose represented Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman from the very beginning of their ordeal. In the Toomey case, the ACLU provided constant guidance to the Willkie team and experience gained from their longstanding on-the-ground advocacy efforts. Without all of these players coming together toward our common goal, success in these cases would have been impossible.

Responses on the Georgia election workers defamation matter provided by Meryl Governski, Willkie litigation partner.

Responses on the Arizona transgender rights matter provided by Wes Powell, Willkie litigation partner and pro bono practice co-chair, and Jordan Wall, Willkie litigation partner.