Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs

Equal Rights Center, represented by the Washington Lawyers’ Committee and Relman Colfax PLLC, has filed a lawsuit against the owners of The MO apartment complex in D.C.’s Union Market neighborhood. The suit alleges overly broad tenant screening policies that unlawfully exclude applicants who use housing vouchers and those with a criminal history. In a city facing a deepening housing crisis, these practices disproportionately harm Black residents and low-income communities. This legal action seeks to ensure fair access to housing and hold landlords accountable. Read the Press Release: https://hubs.la/Q03jJNpj0 #FairHousing #WLC #TogetherForJustice

Wage theft is rampant in the construction industry—and disproportionately impacts immigrant workers who are denied the pay they’ve earned. WLC and Murphy Anderson PLLC represented dozens of construction workers who faced wage theft and misclassification on worksites across the D.C. region. In two major cases, the legal teams secured over $1.1 million in settlements from fencing and general construction companies that failed to pay workers for overtime and regular wages. We’re proud to honor the Murphy Anderson PLLC pro bono team for their unwavering advocacy and for holding employers accountable. Their work helped deliver long-overdue justice and critical compensation to workers who build our region and were denied a fair wage. Join us May 28 at the JW Marriott in Washington, DC, for the 2025 Wiley A. Branton Awards Luncheon as we celebrate law firm and advocacy partnerships advancing justice. Your support makes this work possible. Learn more, sponsor, and register today: https://hubs.la/Q03jyJfT0 #BrantonAwards #WLC #MurphyAnderson #WageJustice #TogetherForJustice

Curious as to how the government identified gang members to send to El Salvador? It's based on a gang database in the DC area that is defunct after WLC published a report on how racism and the lack of transparency wrongly targeted innocent people. A wrong entry in a poorly maintained database can get you sent to a gulag in El Salvador.

Daniel Tishman is a principal at Fish & Richardson P.C., representing major global clients in complex patent litigation involving wide-ranging technologies, in federal court and before the International Trade Commission. He has participated in nearly a dozen trials, achieving favorable verdicts and settlements involving consumer electronics, batteries, and hybrid electric vehicles. Dan’s broad patent litigation experience includes all phases of cases, from pre-suit investigations to fact and expert discovery, claim construction, dispositive motions, trials, and appeals. He also provides strategic counsel to clients in the battery, consumer electronics, chemical, semiconductor, and automotive industries. Dan is a graduate of Tulane University Law School, summa cum laude, Order of the Coif. He clerked for the Honorable Yvette Kane of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. As a WLC board member, Dan has co-counseled numerous civil rights cases including a police misconduct case (2022-2024) and a sexual harassment case (2019-2021). For the latter case, Dan and his team won a precedential opinion before the U.S. Court of Appeals (4th Cir.) on the issue of sex stereotyping and won significant compensatory and punitive damages at a jury trial. Dan and his Fish colleagues were honored at the 2022 WLC Wiley Branton Awards luncheon for outstanding pro bono achievement. Dan shares, “As a law firm principal with an active trial practice and father of three young children, I have learned how important it is to be highly intentional with my time. I know that the time I spend assisting the WLC as a board member is time well spent because WLC has the resources and drive to take on causes and cases that make a real societal impact—fostering equality and access to justice. I also appreciate litigating cases with them—they have a highly-experienced and engaged staff who are a delight to work with, and the cases offer a great opportunity for our attorneys to gain meaningful experiences in federal court while helping deserving clients.” #WLCBoardMemberSpotlight

Gang databases are full of inaccuracies, discriminatory, and sweep so broadly that perfectly innocent conduct—like wearing a Chicago Bulls hat—can get you stopped by police. The Washington Lawyers' Committee warned about these dangers more than a year ago in our report, "Targeted, Labeled, Criminalized: Early Findings on the District of Columbia’s Gang Database." And a year ago, we sued Prince Georges’ County, MD about the lack of transparency in their gang database, the same database that included Kilmar Abrego García’s name. A wrong entry in a poorly maintained gang database can now get you deported to a gulag in El Salvador. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/e3pBB6gU Our report: https://lnkd.in/eGUZ4Dc4 Prince Georges’ County case: https://lnkd.in/eCWp7X-p #WLC #TogetherForJustice #KilmarAbregoGarcía

Congratulations to Wilkinson Stekloff LLP—the top-performing team among small-sized law firms in the Washington Lawyers’ Committee’s 2025 Associates Campaign! Thank you for fueling our mission and standing Together for Justice. See the full campaign results: https://hubs.la/Q03j5T2y0 #AssociatesCampaign #TogetherForJustice #WLC

Congratulations to Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP—the top-performing team among mid-sized law firms in the Washington Lawyers’ Committee’s 2025 Associates Campaign! The Willkie Farr team raised over $48,000 to support civil rights work in Washington, DC, and across the country. Thank you for powering our mission and standing Together for Justice. See the full campaign results: https://hubs.la/Q03h_9wz0 #AssociatesCampaign #TogetherForJustice #WLC

Breaking: The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on May 15 regarding three nationwide injunctions pausing President Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship. These injunctions currently prevent the federal government from ending birthright citizenship. Separate from the three cases before SCOTUS, WLC filed a similar challenge to the executive order on behalf of the Organization for Chinese Americans. https://hubs.la/Q03hWZyt0

Congratulations to WilmerHale for finishing as the #1 top-performing team in the 2025 Associates Campaign of the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs! The WilmerHale team of 110 participants collectively raised over $87,000 – that's enough to cover the annual salary of a junior attorney at WLC! This is the fifth consecutive year that WilmerHale has finished as the #1 Associates Campaign team! Thank you for powering our civil rights work in Washington DC and across the country. Results of our 2025 Associates Campaign: https://hubs.la/Q03hNRTv0 #AssociatesCampaign #TogetherForJustice #WLC

Caleb Robertson, a Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP associate, represents financial institutions, securities trading firms, investment managers, and public companies in matters before government regulators and self-regulatory organizations, as well as in related litigation. Caleb is a graduate of Emory University School of Law. Caleb has worked pro bono with the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs (WLC) on a police violence case. As a WLC Associate Trustee, Caleb says, "Working with WLC has afforded me the opportunity to provide meaningful legal services to DC residents and to hone my litigations skills. The WLC staff attorneys have been crucial partners in advocating on behalf of our shared clients who need someone in their corner, to fight for their needs and for the broader cause of justice and equity." #WLCAssociateTrustee #WLCAssociateTrusteeSpotlight #TogetherForJustice