History
 In 1971, David Rudovsky and David Kairys, both of whom had started their legal careers as public defenders with the Defender Association of Philadelphia, became the founding partners of our law firm.  Their goal was to develop a public interest practice in Philadelphia that would litigate civil rights and civil liberties issues and provide representation to those accused of crime. 

In the early years of the practice, the firm litigated a number of landmark cases in the civil rights field.  These included:

  • Jackson v. Hendrick, a class action lawsuit concerning conditions of confinement and overcrowding in the Philadelphia Prison System that provided a model for similar prisoner rights litigation across the country.  Jackson was litigated for over 30 years and led to significant improvements in the prison system.
  • Philadelphia Resistance v. Mitchell, a case brought by anti-Vietnam war activists in Philadelphia against Attorney General Mitchell and FBI Director Hoover for their illegal attempts to arrest and otherwise punish protestors  for their constitutionally protected political views and associations.  The case led to a settlement agreement, one of the first of its kind, limiting FBI investigatory powers of persons exercising their constitutional rights.  It also led to a related case, Mitchell v. Forsyth, in which the Supreme Court ruled that government officials who had been engaged in unlawful electronic surveillance of persons engaged in protest activity were not fully immune from a suit for damages.
  • The Camden 28, a case in which a number of persons charged by the federal government with conspiracy to destroy draft board records as a protest against the Vietnam War were acquitted by a jury on a then novel theory of entrapment and improper governmental influence.
  • Farber v. Rizzo, one of many cases filed against the Philadelphia Police Department for violations of the rights of citizens.  In this case, we successfully obtained an injunction and damages for peaceful protestors who were arrested in Philadelphia at an event honoring President Nixon. 
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The membership of our firm has changed over the years, with three of our former colleagues having left the firm for academia, and one former colleague having become a Judge.  Holly Maguigan, who worked with us from 1975 to 1985, is now a professor of law at New York University School of Law.  Adam Thurschwell, who was with the firm from 1985 to 1988, is now a professor of law at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.  In 1991, David Kairys took a position as a professor of law at the Temple University Beasley School of Law.  And, Lisa M. Rau, who joined the firm in the late 1990s, left the firm in 2001 upon election as a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia.

The current members of our firm are: David Rudovsky; Jules Epstein, who joined the firm in 1990, and who is now of counsel to the firm after having accepted a faculty position at the Widener School of Law; Paul Messing, who joined the firm in 1992; and Jonathan Feinberg, who joined the firm in 2002.

With these changes, the firm has expanded its focus on criminal defense litigation.  Beyond representing individual clients in both state and federal court prosecutions, the firm has focused on litigating on behalf of inmates facing the death penalty and in cases involving unlawful searches and seizures.  Additionally, we have continued to litigate significant cases involving police and other governmental misconduct, and the rights of the homeless, immigrants, those accused of crime, protestors, political activists, and victims of racial or religious discrimination.  A sample of these cases includes:

Police Misconduct
  • City of Canton v. Harris, in which the United States Supreme Court agreed with our argument that cities and counties could be held liable under the Civil Rights Acts in cases in which police or other officials violated the rights of citizens, where the City had a practice, policy or custom that caused the constitutional violation.  As a result of this decision, the government itself can be held accountable for a failure to properly train, supervise, or discipline its officers.
  • NAACP  v. City of Philadelphia, a major class action, litigated with the ACLU, that resulted in systemic changes in the operation of the Philadelphia Police Department, including reform of the Internal Affairs Division, limits on racial profiling and other discriminatory police practices, enhanced training, and rigorous supervision of narcotics investigators.  This case has served as a model for institutional law reform litigation in other parts of the country.
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Criminal Justice
  • Godschalk v. District Attorney, a case in which our client was exonerated by DNA evidence after serving 15 years in prison on rape charges of which he was completely innocent.  Working with the Innocence Project, we first established an important legal precedent that persons convicted of crime were entitled to post-conviction DNA testing to determine their innocence.  We also were successful in obtaining substantial money damages for Mr. Godschalk in a suit against the District Attorney who had refused access to the DNA evidence and detectives who had violated Mr. Godschalk’s rights in their investigation of the case.
  • Commonwealth v. Martin, a case that led to a decision of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania applying state constitutional principles to strictly limit situations in which dogs would be used to search for narcotics.
  • Davis v. City of Philadelphia, a class action lawsuit which stopped the custom and practice of incarcerating indigent traffic violators without due process and equal protection of the law in Philadelphia Traffic Court and resulted in the release of dozens of persons who had been unlawfully incarcerated.
  • Graham v. City of Philadelphia, a class action lawsuit which stopped the custom and practice of using pretextual criminal charges to arrest homeless persons on the streets of Philadelphia.
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Prisoner Rights
  • Bowers v. City of Philadelphia, a follow-up case to Jackson v. Hendrick, where, in 2006, we again successfully challenged overcrowding and other unconstitutional conditions of confinement in the Philadelphia Prison System and obtained an injunction against these unlawful practices.  Our office is currently monitoring compliance with this injunction.
  • Rosen v. City of Philadelphia, a class action resulting in a far-reaching consent decree protecting the rights of arrested persons with diabetes to proper medical care.
  • Pagan v. City of Philadelphia, a civil rights action concerning inmates’ contraction of drug-resistant staph infections (MRSA) while incarcerated in the Philadelphia Prison System in which we negotiated proper protocols for the treatment, diagnosis, and prevention of such infections.
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First Amendment Discrimination Immigration
 
 
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