Shearman & Sterling partner James Donato (San Francisco - Litigation) co-authored a guest column in the October 10, 2011 San Francisco Daily Journal, "Rejecting civil Gideon because it costs too much is wrong." Donato and his co-author, Morrison & Foerster LLP partner James Brosnahan, co-chair The Bar Association of San Francisco Justice Gap Committee.

Civil Gideon—the nationwide movement to provide civil counsel at public expense to low-income individuals and families involving housing, child custody, government benefits for food and healthcare, and other life essentials—has been challenged on the basis of cost since the day it was conceived. The column highlights two recent studies in New York and Texas showing how funding civil legal services for low-income individuals generates a substantial positive economic return on the dollars invested. At the heart of the call for civil Gideon is the common sense understanding that providing civil legal services ensures good government and a well-ordered society. The presence of millions of unrepresented litigants in the courts—usually in the most difficult circumstances involving child custody and the collapse of a family, the loss of a place to live, or access to basic health care and sustenance—imposes tremendous inefficiencies and burdens on the legal system and the economy. The column underscores that the evidence of positive economic benefits is important because it eliminates stalling on the "practical" objection of cost and moves the argument forward to a truly meaningful debate about the provision of civil legal services to the poor.