Fish Pro Bono and Diversity Initiatives Align in Effort to Oppose the U.S. Department of Education's Implementation of Unfair Policy

Recently, Fish served as co-counsel on an amicus brief in connection with a lawsuit against the United States Department of Education. The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a national non-profit devoted to securing equal justice for all through the rule of law, filed their amicus brief in Calvillo Manriquez, et al. v. Devos, et al, with Fish as pro bono counsel. The brief challenges the efforts of the Department of Education, under the current administration, to limit loan forgiveness measures put into place by the Department of Education under President Obama. Specifically, the prior policy allowed federal debt relief for students defrauded by Corinthian Colleges, a for-profit, now defunct, secondary education institution. The current administration endeavored to put these protections on hold and devised an alternate calculation method which amounted to an arbitrary, but significant, reduction in loan forgiveness. The brief filed by Fish and the Lawyers' Committee supports these defrauded students, emphasizes the significant need for fair access to education for everyone, and offers extensive evidence that the reduced debt relief under the current policy disproportionately affects students from diverse and marginalized backgrounds. As a firm that serves the world's greatest visionaries, Fish is committed to diversity and inclusion by promoting a creative, respectful, and inclusive culture that values the diversity of people, experiences, perspectives, talents, and capabilities both within and outside of the Fish community. The Lawyers' Committee, a long-time pro bono partner of Fish, systemically focuses its advocacy on targeting in particular the inequities confronting African-Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities in our justice system and communities in general. For further information on this lawsuit, visit the New York Times.