Squire Patton Boggs is pleased to announce that Corrine Irish has been selected to serve as Pro Bono Counsel. Ms. Irish will serve alongside existing Pro Bono Counsel Michael Forshey during 2021, after which she will assume primary responsibility for the firm’s long-standing pro bono program.
“For more than a decade, Corrine has demonstrated her commitment to pro bono work through our firm’s innovative Public Service Initiative – working towards improving our criminal justice system and ensuring equal rights and equal justice for all, regardless of race or class. Corrine has the energy, passion, and legal acumen to lead our pro bono program and truly enact change in the communities where we live, work and serve,” said Fred Nance, Global Managing Partner.
“Corrine is absolutely perfect for this position. She brings a wealth of knowledge, talent and clear vision to our program – building upon our legacy and reinvigorating our mission to address the social and racial injustices in today’s world. Corrine will be a tremendous resource for our lawyers and for the firm,” added Mike Forshey, Pro Bono Counsel and Dallas office managing partner.
Ms. Irish is an experienced commercial litigator and a founding member of the firm’s Public Service Initiative (PSI), an innovative program of full-time lawyers who are handling some of the nation’s most complex and demanding pro bono matters in jurisdictions where indigents have limited or no access to effective legal services. PSI’s distinct structure combines pro bono litigation representation, public policy reform and related education. Through her work with PSI, Ms. Irish has successfully litigated cases of capital punishment, life imprisonment and civil rights violations for indigent clients involving a miscarriage of justice and/or a denial of fundamental rights. She has served as counsel for amici clients before the US Supreme Court in landmark criminal constitutional law cases.
Notably, Ms. Irish won a settlement on behalf of four journalists who sued both the City and County of St. Louis and its officers for First Amendment and Fourth Amendment violations, battery, and false arrest that occurred during their reporting of the Ferguson protests in August 2014. Ms. Irish also played a key role in winning the release of Gary Tyler, sentenced to death and then life without parole, as a juvenile and obtaining a pardon and compensation for Joseph Dick, one of the Norfolk 4, after helping to prove his innocence.
In October 2019, Ms. Irish was appointed as a mayoral designee to the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the nation’s largest independent police oversight entity. She also continues to serve as a lecturer-in-law at Columbia Law School.
“At such a critical time for racial and social justice in this country, the pro bono work done by corporate law firms is vital. I am proud to lead those efforts at Squire Patton Boggs, especially as one of a small number of Black lawyers serving in this role in Big Law,” said Ms. Irish.