News & Events

Brandt Goldstein's recently published book, "Storming the Court" (Scribner) tells how in 1992, a group of Yale law students led by now Dean Harold Koh began a substantial effort to free 300 Haitian refugees who were found to have a credible fear of political persecution if returned to Haiti but who were being held indefinitely at a detention camp at Guantanamo solely because they were HIV +.

Simpson Thacher, led by litigation partner Joe Tringali, was asked to join the legal team by Yale Law School and the Firm agreed to act as co-counsel pro bono. The book tells how Simpson Thacher took the lead in a three week trial in federal court in Brooklyn, resulting in the district court ruling in favor of the refugees and the government agreeing to release them from Guantanamo.

Goldstein wrote that Simpson Thacher lawyers work many hours each week and "most of that time was devoted to the corporate clients who paid handsomely for Simpson's services. But some went to pro bono work, helping nonprofit organizations and low-income New Yorkers and immigrants with their legal problems. It was this tradition that Michael Barr [a Yale summer associate] had in mind when he called Simpson Thacher about the Guantanamo case." Brandt continues that Simpson Thacher is "a big firm with a tradition of doing pro bono work" and Simpson Thacher litigation partner Joe Tringali a "gifted, meticulous attorney".