Foster Garvey PC* has been a partner of the Seattle Clemency Project (SCP) since its founding in 2017, helping individuals seeking early release and those facing deportation due to old criminal convictions pursue clemency, resentencing, or other forms of release from sentences imposed under outdated or excessively harsh laws. Through this partnership, Foster Garvey has helped secure freedom for clients who have demonstrated transformation and rehabilitation, while contributing to SCP’s broader impact: 126 people released, more than 1,400 years of incarceration saved, and dozens of immigrants spared deportation. This work highlights the firm’s deep commitment to advancing justice, restoring dignity, and building community through pro bono service.
We spoke with Paul Heer, Principal at Foster Garvey PC, about this important work and his leadership in making it possible.
- Please tell us about this project.
Foster Garvey has been in partnership with the Seattle Clemency Project (SCP) since 2017. SCP connects incarcerated individuals – many of whom were sentenced to decades or life under outdated or excessively harsh sentencing laws – with volunteer attorneys who help them seek clemency, resentencing, or other forms of release. Washington state abolished parole in 1984, creating a system that fails to recognize rehabilitation alongside principles of punishment and deterrence. SCP’s work responds to the portion of the incarcerated population that has transformed their lives but remain behind bars.
Our firm was involved at the ground level of this work. I took on one of SCP’s earliest cases in 2017, involving a man who, since his 18th birthday, had spent nearly 30 years in prison. At the time, there was no precedent in Washington for someone with his conviction classification to receive clemency. After a three-year effort with broad community support, reviewing tens of thousands of pages of records and crafting a full, human-centered narrative, he was granted clemency by the Governor in 2020. Foster Garvey attorneys have represented nine clients, continuing to undertake clemency cases annually.
Since then, SCP has grown from two local defense attorneys’ coffee shop idea to a statewide force for justice by pairing people serving long or life sentences – and immigrants facing deportation due to old convictions – with volunteer lawyers. SCP’s work has secured the release of 126 people from prison, saved over 1,400 years of incarceration, and, through their Immigrant Post-Conviction Relief program, restored lawful permanent resident status and even created pathways for U.S. citizenship for dozens of community members who were facing imminent deportation.
- What has been the role of Foster Garvey volunteers in this project?
Foster Garvey was the first law firm partner for SCP. Since then, SCP has partnered with dozens of law firms and mobilized over 374 attorneys, nearly 100 students, and corporate partners like Microsoft, T-Mobile, Boeing, and Amazon to provide more than $12 million in free legal services.
We take on full-scope representation in these multiyear matters. That includes interviewing clients and their families, obtaining prison and court records, working with social workers and department of corrections experts to assess rehabilitation and reentry readiness, building reentry plans with housing, employment and basic needs provided for, and ultimately preparing and presenting clemency/resentencing petitions before the Washington State Clemency & Pardons Board, Indeterminate Sentence Review Board, or before prosecutor’s offices throughout Washington.
- What organization(s) did the law firm collaborate with for this project? Why are the collaborations with them so important?
We have collaborated with Microsoft pro bono lawyers on individual cases, who donated 462 pro bono hours in 2024; the University of Washington Law Societies and Justice Program, whose students partner with attorneys to help build and strengthen client petitions; and the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, which assists immigrant clients qualifying for post-conviction relief but lacking affordable legal representation.
In addition to providing their expertise and resources, these community partners are essential in building a powerful network that drives systemic progress.
- What is the impact of this pro bono work?
Beyond statistics, the true impact is in the lived stories of the 126 individuals who have experienced rehabilitation and maturation through SCP. Alongside moments of individual justice, this work reminds our community about the power of rehabilitation.
- What would you say is the most challenging part of this type of work?
To achieve moments of individual justice within a system that prioritizes punishment requires an incredible input of resources and time. This approach is very difficult to scale on a mostly volunteer and pro bono basis. We do this work to tell stories that deserve to be heard, but we’re always conscious of the gap between what we can achieve one case at a time, and what systemic progress would require.
- Is there any advice that you would give to other law firms who want to become more focused on a certain pro bono issue?
Here’s what I’ve learned:
- Define a champion. You need someone at your firm who can drive the work forward, build buy-in, and make sure time and resources are appropriately dedicated to the matters. Every successful pro bono initiative needs centers of gravity.
- Make it easy to say yes, and keep saying yes. Design pro bono opportunities so that they’re accessible to busy attorneys. Build out support systems by using templates, implementing mentorship models, and encouraging collaboration to make it easy to plug in. Design pro bono programs to complement the requirements of the law firm’s business model, which means incentivizing and recognizing this work for each category of timekeepers and non-timekeepers, not just junior associates.
- Involve the whole firm. This does not just need to be attorney work. Our administrative staff, marketing team, law clerks and local law students have all played meaningful roles in this work. Broad participation deepens impact and builds a culture of service at your firm.
| Each year, the signatories to the PBI Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge® and Corporate Pro Bono Challenge® initiatives provide important pro bono services to underserved, disadvantaged, and other individuals or groups unable to secure the legal assistance needed to address critical problems. The PBI Signatory Showcase spotlights some of the amazing work signatories have done to serve those in need.VIEW THE SIGNATORY SHOWCASE |
* denotes a Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge® signatory
** denotes a Corporate Pro Bono Challenge® signatory
† denotes a Law Firm Pro Bono Project® member