Alston & Bird Team Honored for Obtaining a Settlement in a Highly Contested Custody Case

Paige A. Geier

At this year’s Above & Beyond Awards, Sanctuary will honor a team from Alston & Bird for their devoted pro bono representation of “Amber” to obtain a favorable settlement in a complex and highly contested custody case.

At this year’s Above & Beyond Awards, Sanctuary for Families is honoring a team from Alston & Bird, including partner Elizabeth Buckel, and associates Chris Williams, Morgan Meyer, and Ashton Andrews for their compassionate and devoted pro bono representation of “Amber” to obtain a favorable settlement in a complex and highly contested custody case.

“Amber” had previously left an abusive relationship, and the parties agreed to joint custody of their daughter.  Several years later, the arrangement was no longer working and came to Sanctuary for Families as a fraught and difficult custody modification case with a savvy, manipulative pro se respondent.  The hard-working team from Alston & Bird joined the case in 2023.  In addition to filing multiple violation petitions and orders to show cause, the team diligently prepared for trial and had weekslong settlement negotiations with the client’s abuser to work out a custody arrangement that was beneficial to both Amber and her daughter.  Ultimately, the team secured a favorable settlement that gave Amber sole legal custody and primary physical custody of her daughter with limited visitation with the father.

The Alston & Bird team juggled difficult aspects of the case with skill and compassion.  At times, they were simultaneously preparing for trial, engaging in settlement negotiations with an aggressive pro se respondent, and providing ongoing emotional support to their client.  The case was scheduled for trial, so the team started to prepare witnesses, draft direct examination questions, and engage in pretrial discovery.  Settlement negotiations were extremely complicated and, at times, hostile.  The team sent myriad emails, had dozens of phone calls, and – in a three-week span – engaged in five separate settlement talks with the abuser in an attempt to negotiate a custody arrangement.  Associate Chris Williams emphasized the challenge of balancing the various aspects of the case, especially while managing client expectations and ensuring the court system was not being used to work out personal grievances.

This was Chris’ first case with Sanctuary for Families, and he is excited to continue partnering with Sanctuary in the future.  Chris learned a great deal from this case, including key litigation skills like preparing for trial, negotiating settlements, and connecting with clients through empathy and patience.  Chris said this case taught him to be a zealous advocate for his clients, especially after witnessing the systems and institutions survivors interact with.  In this case, the team was able to use their “alternative dispute resolution tools to gain the best outcome for our client, but also for [her] family and future going forward.”

Erin Mears, Senior Staff Attorney at Sanctuary for Families, praised Chris for his continued empathy, compassion, and patience when working with Amber.  She remarked on how empowering it is for survivors to have “a team of fantastic, dedicated, conscientious lawyers” behind them.  It was especially important for Amber and had the crucial effect of shifting the power dynamic in the case – once the Alston & Bird team was brought on, it was no longer a David and Goliath scenario where the abuser could continue to exert control through the litigation process.  Erin commended the team’s dedication throughout the difficult process of preparing for trial: “Elizabeth and the team were responsive, detail-oriented, and hard-working throughout the case.  They were thorough and well-prepared in each document drafting, filing, and court appearance, and they were particularly attentive to the client and her daughter, taking special care of their mental health and well-being.”

Amber expressed her gratitude to the team after they secured her a favorable outcome.  She wrote: “There are no real words that can encompass how grateful and fortunate N and I are to have such an incredible team on our side.  I know that at times I have been one to overreact emotionally and perhaps illogical at times.  My intentions were never to be difficult but know it was always from a place of fear and desperation.  I truly have struggled in the last year the most and lived in a strange dark place where I felt almost not human.  You all have been so kind and generous with your humanity towards me and forever I will be grateful and appreciative.”

Sanctuary is incredibly grateful for the invaluable pro bono work of this amazing and supportive team.

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Join us at our Above & Beyond Awards Ceremony on October 8, 2024, as we honor Alston & Bird’s outstanding pro bono work.

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Milbank LLP Secures Divorce for Survivor After 4-Year Litigation Battle

Anastasia Regne

At this year’s Above & Beyond Awards, Sanctuary will honor will honor SA’s dedicated team of Milbank attorneys who have repeatedly achieved remarkable outcomes over the course of their 4 years representing SA in his initially uncontested divorce.

At this year’s Above & Beyond Awards, Sanctuary for Families will honor SA’s dedicated team of Milbank attorneys who have repeatedly achieved remarkable outcomes over their 4 years representing SA in his initially uncontested divorce.

SA’s Milbank team consists of associates Ashley A. Satterlee, Elizabeth Hamilton, Morgan M. Williams, Alisha Gupta, and Leslie Irwin and partner Stacey J. Rappaport.

While living in Nigeria, where it is unlawful to be gay, SA’s abuser engaged in many methods of abuse, including forcing SA to engage in polyamory despite SA’s protests and to be on heavy medication which dulled SA’s senses.  The abuser constantly threatened to tell SA’s family and friends in Nigeria about SA’s sexuality, which would have put SA’s life at great risk. Subsequent to their marriage, the abuser also attempted to use the United States’ immigration system to control SA.

Lauren Patel of Sanctuary filed for the uncontested divorce in 2020 which turned into a complicated case as a result of the abuser’s litigation tactics.  After the abuser filed multiple interlocutory appeals in 2022, Milbank then offered to co-counsel to help SA.   Over the last two years, Milbank and SA have had to bat away constant filings – including extraordinarily lengthy requests to file counterclaims alleging fraud and demands for punitive payment, and multiple motions and appeals – all part of the abuser’s attempts to abuse the justice system to continue to assert power and control over SA.  These verbose filings (many over 100 pages long) are riddled with insulting jabs at the court and SA’s attorneys and contain slanderous allegations designed to humiliate SA.

However, as Milbank associates Morgan and Elizabeth explained, “The courts have seen straight through the abuser and that he is using the courts to abuse” SA.  SA and his Milbank team have succeeded in opposing a significant amount of relief sought by the abuser, and in February 2024, obtained a judgment of divorce for SA.

Milbank’s team was initially engaged to assist with an interlocutory appeal, but ultimately helped complete the divorce in chief and has remained on to represent SA in multiple subsequent filings including three appeals.  Because the abuser is pro se, the papers and arguments are difficult to understand.  As described by Lauren, Milbank’s pro bono team “constantly goes above and beyond to respond to each and every argument, motion, and paper to zealously advocate and protect SA against this abuse.  It has required a significant amount of legal research, time, and drafting to be able to continue to knock down each attempt, and they continue to be dedicated to doing so.”

The diversity of experience across Milbank’s incredible pro bono team allowed them to jump right in on SA’s case.  Each member of the team is passionate about working with SA: as Elizabeth noted, “everyone puts their whole hearts into it.” Morgan added “Sanctuary has been so amazing, Lauren is such an amazing resource in helping understand this case.”

Though the constant litigation has been arduous for SA and his lawyers, Morgan explained that she has learned a lot about drafting and client advocacy along the way.  She explained it recently occurred to her how much professional growth she’s had while working on SA’s case.  While drafting an outline, Morgan realized “when I was first added to the case, it would have taken me months to draft this,” and now she is able to put papers together much more quickly.  Morgan also said that working on SA’s case has strengthened her understanding of the importance of advocacy for Sanctuary clients.  Elizabeth explained that the team has continued to not only work with SA to defeat the abuser’s constant frivolous filings, but to help work with SA to stay safe by ensuring that SA’s whereabouts and contact information are kept away from the abuser, consistent with the confidentiality order in place in the case.

The Milbank team and SA continue to fight SA’s abuser and plan to defeat him in his third appeal.  Morgan explained that the abuser “might file something wild or crazy, but we are ready to fight it vigorously.” She further provided, “Our firm is committed to pro bono work – the firm recognized us for this case last month.”   Elizabeth added, Milbank knows it’s important to “fight for a righteous cause and take care of other people who need someone to stand up for them.”   Now that the team secured the judgment of divorce this February, Milbank and SA continue to work together on the third appeal, and expect oral argument to be held in October.

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Join us at our Above & Beyond Awards Ceremony on October 8, 2024, as we honor Milbank’s outstanding pro bono work.

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Anastasia Regne is a member of Sanctuary’s Pro Bono Council.

Weil, Gotshal, and Freshfields Team Secures Multiple Victories for Survivor of Religious Sect and Her Children

Francesca L. Fulchignoni

At this year’s Above & Beyond Awards, Sanctuary will honor a Weil, Gotshal, and Freshfields team for their work representing a mother in federal court for several years in the face of repeated threats by her ex-husband and his associates and the kidnappings of her children. 

At this year’s Above & Beyond Awards, Sanctuary for Families is pleased to honor Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s Timothy Howard, Xiaoxi Tu, and Nate Montalto, and Weil Gotshal & Manges’ Steven A. Reiss, Adam C. Hemlock, Rachel Crosswell, Selma Haveric, and Liz Klinger for their team’s work representing a mother in federal court for several years, in the face of repeated threats by her ex-husband and his associates and the kidnappings of her children. 

Rachel[1] is the daughter of the founder of an extremist religious sect and the mother of six beautiful children. The group exerts severe psychological and physical control over its members, practices child marriage, engages in an atypical form of dress for women, and has adopted unusually restrictive religious practices in diet and religious study. Women are confined entirely to the domestic sphere and excluded entirely from decision-making. Members, including children, are punished harshly for the slightest infraction by sleep deprivation, false imprisonment, and many forms of psychological and physical abuse. These practices have led to repeated run-ins with child welfare authorities, prompting the group to flee the United States to reside in Canada, Mexico, and Guatemala. When sect leaders ordered the marriage of Rachel’s 13-year-old daughter and retaliated against Rachel when she opposed it, she made a daring and dangerous escape with her children and fled to the United States.

Rachel obtained a temporary custody order and order of protection in Brooklyn Family Court, but it was far from over; the children’s father filed a petition under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (the “Hague Convention”) and claimed jurisdiction should be Guatemala, where the sect had previously settled. With this set of very difficult circumstances, the Weil Gotshal team jumped in to help.  After extensive trial preparation and many court appearances, and strategic motion practice, the Hague Convention case was dismissed with prejudice.  But before that happened, just as Rachel and her children were beginning to enjoy a settled life in Brooklyn, they experienced a new traumatic event:  the sect lured away her eldest two children from a location in northern New York where they were on a sleep away trip, and spirited them across the border and later into Mexico.  Rachel was devastated.  Fortunately, the FBI, working closely with Mexican law enforcement, was able to locate the children and return them to New York, where it charged seven individual members of the sect with kidnapping.  The team then represented Rachel as a witness in the criminal federal cases that stemmed from the kidnapping.

It was a complex task because of the multiple aspects of the Hague Convention case and the federal criminal case along with the custody case in family court.  The team worked diligently to ensure that one piece of testimony would not contradict or harm one of the other proceedings while supporting their traumatized client.  This presented a very big learning curve for everyone on the case, but the team was up to the challenge, forging a strong relationship of trust with Rachel.  During the intensive fact gathering and witness preparation, many meetings were had with the legal team at Rachel’s dining room table.  The team also helped Rachel with important safety planning and safety measures for her and her children, including getting Rachel a new cellphone and helping her move several times to avoid detection. The team worked especially hard to ensure that Rachel was comfortable with her testimony and that she was able to tell her story in her own voice, as she actually experienced it.  The legal team strove to hear what Rachel wanted and do what she wished for, empowering this extraordinarily resilient woman who had been in situations of extreme control her entire life.

All of Rachel’s children’s kidnappers were convicted of child abduction and other federal crimes and are serving significant sentences in prison.  The dismissal of the Hague Convention case secured by the Weil team enabled the Brooklyn Family Court judge to move forward with the custody and order of protection cases, eventually granting Rachel the longest order of protection possible (5 years) and sole custody of all of her children.  Today, Rachel and her children are happily ensconced in their supportive Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, where therapeutic support and local generosity has helped them recover from their ordeal and flourish in their new lives.

[1]           Names have been changed.

Join us at our Above & Beyond Awards Ceremony on October 25, 2023, as we honor Weil, Gotshal, and Freshfields’ outstanding pro bono work.

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Francesca L. Fulchignoni is a practice area associate in Sullivan & Cromwell’s Criminal Defense and Investigations Group.

Steptoe & Johnson Honored for Advocacy in Retaliatory Defamation Case

Tushna Gamadia

At this year’s Above & Beyond Awards, Sanctuary will honor Joseph Sanderson of Steptoe & Johnson LLP for his tireless, inspired, and compassionate advocacy on behalf of Sanctuary’s client.

Sanctuary for Families is pleased to honor accomplished trial lawyer Joseph Sanderson of Steptoe & Johnson LLP with an Above & Beyond Award for his tireless, inspired, and compassionate advocacy on behalf of Sanctuary’s client in a retaliatory defamation case.

Joseph is a well-known and accomplished litigator who has generously shared his expertise and experience to help Sanctuary’s client achieve a just outcome in a retaliatory defamation lawsuit. As Sanctuary’s client explained in her affidavit, her ex-husband—an NYPD officer—had physically and sexually abused her during their marriage. She later reported the abuse to the NYPD in an attempt to protect herself and stop the abuse. Later, as he faced contempt proceedings in their divorce case, the abuser filed a defamation lawsuit against her based on this report to the NYPD.

Sadly, defamation lawsuits against survivors who speak out about their abuse have been increasing. They are now another tool enabling abusers to harass, intimidate, and punish the victims of their violence. In addition to trying to silence survivors, these retaliatory lawsuits are often used to try to coerce survivors into dropping relief to which they are entitled in matrimonial or custody proceedings or not cooperating with criminal or other investigations. Pro bono attorneys like Joseph are critical in the effort to counteract this dangerous trend.

Sanctuary attorneys who specialize in family law had been representing the client in her divorce matter when the defamation lawsuit was filed against her. Sanctuary attorneys do not regularly litigate tort cases and have limited bandwidth to handle this type of collateral civil litigation. Fortunately for our client, Joseph has built up significant experience and expertise from volunteering to represent other pro bono clients who have been subjected to malicious defamation claims by their abusers as a means of harassment, retaliation and intimidation. Joseph’s sense of justice and fairness has led him to reach out to survivors who have courageously stepped forward to file complaints to stop their abuse or bring their abuser to justice, only to have their abuser misuse defamation law as a means to silence or intimidate them. Through a combination of skillful strategy, insightful knowledge of the complex workings of the court system, and desire to make sure that the legal system did not fail Sanctuary’s client, Joseph was able to obtain a voluntary Stipulation of Discontinuance of the case. Joseph employed a mix of patience, endurance and diligence in obtaining the best possible outcome.

Joseph started working on the case in June 2021 when he was at his former firm, Kirkland & Ellis, and took the case with him when he moved firms to Steptoe so our client would have continuous and consistent representation. After Joseph’s strategic motion practice—which required opposing counsel to spend significant time and money pursuing a case in which they may have expected the client would quickly fold—opposing counsel eventually agreed to drop the case altogether in a courtroom hallway while waiting for a motion to be heard. During the course of the several years long litigation, Joseph was dogged in his representation of the client, including by filing multiple applications with the Court, including a request to seal documents and sanction the other side in order to protect confidential client information that was disclosed in her ex-husband’s filings, which itself created pressure to discontinue the case.

Hannah West, the dedicated Sanctuary for Families lawyer handling the client’s divorce nominated Joseph for this Award, saying,

“I was impressed and grateful for Joseph’s ability to manage the case and all communications with the client so independently and skillfully. Most importantly, Joseph was collaborative with our client by being in constant communication with her and explaining in detail his case strategy, while listening to our client’s concerns and being responsive to her questions and guided by her needs.”

In addition to his pro bono work on behalf of survivors of abuse and violence, Joseph also advocates for reforms in the court system as a member of bar association committees. It is a testament to his skilled management of this sensitive case and thorough understanding of the workings of the legal system that Joseph was able to use the delays and pace of the court system to achieve such a positive outcome for our client. Had Joseph not been able to obtain the discontinuance of the case, our client may have lost her faith in the justice system that was punishing her for bravely coming forward to stop her abuse, and her ability to testify in the family law proceedings would also be impaired, jeopardizing her receiving a fair and favorable outcome.

Thanks to her courage and resilience, our client is moving forward with her life and thriving in her new profession. She recognizes that Joseph’s compassionate and empowering representation has helped her achieve her goals for her future, so when asked if she wanted to say anything in relation to Joseph’s Above & Beyond Award, Ms. S said she would do “anything for Mr. Sanderson” because of his ability to resolve the matter so smoothly and compassionately. Meanwhile, Joseph continues to share his trial advocacy talents to empower survivors by taking on other similar pro bono matters. We thank Joseph and are pleased to honor him for his dedication and generosity in volunteering his time and talents to such tireless, empowering and trauma-informed representation of Sanctuary for Families clients and other brave survivors of abuse and gender based violence.

Join us at our Above & Beyond Awards Ceremony on October 25, 2023, as we honor Steptoe & Johnson’s outstanding pro bono work.

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Tushna Gamadia is an of counsel in the Real Estate Group at Morrison & Foerster LLP, works with Sanctuary for Families’ clients on pro bono cases and is a member of Sanctuary for Families Pro Bono Council.