Attorneys from Shearman & Sterling’s San Francisco office recently participated in the third annual Clean Slate Summit in Alameda County, California. Sponsored by the East Bay Community Law Center, the summit is part of the ongoing Clean Slate Project, a community program that helps individuals with previous arrests and criminal convictions to fully participate in society through education and civic engagement and increase their prospects for employment and housing.
The one-day summit brought together community organizers, local public officials, social service agencies, and several of the firm’s attorneys, who provided pro bono legal assistance to eligible residents of Alameda County seeking to expunge their criminal records—a fairly lengthy court process.
Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson and Congresswoman Barbara Lee co-chaired the event. In her opening remarks, Congresswoman Lee highlighted the importance of the program and its role in helping hundreds of people to “clean their slate.” The summit agenda included criminal records remedies, re-entry resources, community service workshops, and a policy forum on developing life goals after incarceration.
During the summit, associates Derek Dalmer (San Francisco-Capital Markets) and David Swarthout (San Francisco-Finance) provided one-on-one legal consultations on the necessary qualifications for expunging criminal records and applying for Certificates of Rehabilitation. “We heard testimonials from people who have benefited from the program and are now gainfully employed and contributing to the community through employment from which they were previously barred as a result of criminal records,” explained Swarthout. “It was a very rewarding experience for me and I look forward to next year's summit.”
This year, 125 individuals began the process of cleaning their records. Margaret Richardson, Director of the Law Center’s Clean Slate Project, said, “The work provided by these volunteer attorneys would have required over a month of work by a full time staff person. Because of the volunteers’ commitment and hard work, many people left the summit with a renewed sense of hope.”
The firm coordinated its efforts with the East Bay Community Law Center, an organization that works with low-income clients and community groups on legal matters affecting income, shelter, and health care.