Sonnenschein lawyers render pro bono assistance to diverse community groups seeking guidance on tax-exempt status, contractual matters, and corporate governance structures. Our lawyers have also helped launch various nonprofit organizations. We present seminars to minority businesspeople on topics such as how to navigate government agencies. In a major pro bono effort, the firm was among New York law firms representing the families of union members who died in the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. Our lawyers also helped the families connect with relief and support organizations that could help them put their lives back together.
Representative Engagements
Fortune Society Receives $100,000 Grant
A group of Sonnenschein attorneys recently assisted the nonprofit Fortune Society, Inc., in procuring a $100,000 grant from the Carnegie Foundation. The work involved navigating through the 2006 revisions to the federal Pension Protection Act that affected IRS Code provisions governing private foundations.
Through the collective efforts of Roy Locke Jr. of New York, Stafford Matthews and Lauren Mack of our San Francisco office and Bruce Davison of Kansas City, we brought about the immediate release of funds to the Fortune Society by demonstrating to the Carnegie Foundation that certain provisions of the act did not apply to the Fortune Society. The Fortune Society provides jobs and job training assistance to former inmates.
After a Long Struggle, a Community Regains Control of its Church
After more than six years of litigation, including a trial, a court-ordered election, four appeals and civil contempt proceedings, Sonnenschein won a decisive court victory last fall, restoring control of a church to its community and ending a six-year battle that split the congregation.
The saga began in 2001 when members of the Bethlehem Healing Temple Church discovered that their pastor, Bishop Arcenia C. Richards, had granted himself vast authority over church decisions and broad access to the church coffers by way of a secretive nonprofit corporation. Bishop Richards had written checks against church accounts, totaling tens of thousands of dollars, to cover personal expenses.
When Bishop Richards refused to account for the financial irregularities, congregants voted overwhelmingly to remove him. After his death in 2001, his daughter Marcenia sought to succeed him, citing bylaws her father purportedly put in place with the aid of a handful of supporters. When the congregation refused to accept Marcenia Richards as pastor and tried to block her from taking the pulpit, she used security and guard dogs to drive members off the premises. Since then, the congregation has held services in a hotel ballroom, in a hospital auditorium, and, until recently, in a school gymnasium. When the congregation approached Sonnenschein, our clients had already lost an initial round of litigation over control of the corporation in Cook County Circuit Court. Complicating that matter was a confusing body of Illinois case law and the fact that the law governing nonprofits is heavily overlaid with First Amendment limits on state involvement in church governance.
As a result, the judge dismissed the initial case in July 2001, maintaining that it hinged on religious issues that were outside the court's authority. Sonnenschein's appeal of that decision led to a reversal. The appeals court also called for the suit to be merged with a second suit filed by Sonnenschein, naming Marcenia Richards and others.
Our clients were victorious in the combined litigation. One result was that court-ordered elections were held in 2004 to select a new board of directors. Our clients' slate of candidates won those elections. But even the election of new directors did not put an end to the legal wrangling. Marcenia Richards challenged the election's outcome in court, first taking prolonged appeals (with the judgment stayed), concluding in May 2006. She was then ordered to relinquish control of the church, refused, was held in contempt, and went into hiding to avoid arrest. Cook County sheriff's police ultimately evicted Richards' supporters from the church in September 2007.
After making repairs to the church building, our clients have recently resumed holding services there. This effort has involved more than 5,000 hours of pro bono work by some 30 Sonnenschein lawyers and paralegals, led by Bill Barker, with Terry Norton joining the team just before trial. Others who have contributed considerable time and demonstrated enormous commitment to this effort have included Eva Lopez-Paredes, David Geerdes, Suzanne Smith, Leslie Davis, Katherine Mellon, Tony Eliseuson, Tania Barrett, Karen Burnett and Cynthia Johnson.
Homeless Shelter for Veterans Receives Financing
Attorneys from Sonnenschein's St. Louis office have helped obtain financing for a much-needed homeless shelter for veterans. The Southwestern Illinois Development Authority has agreed to provide financial support for the new 17,000-sq.ft. homeless shelter in East St. Louis, Ill. The shelter, known as the St. Joseph Center, will house as many as 26 veterans at a time. This effort is the last piece of financing in a major initiative by the Eagle's Nest of St. Clair County, a nonprofit group and Sonnenschein pro bono client, to construct housing for homeless veterans in the East St. Louis area. Joe Colagiovanni, Mariquita Barbieri, Frank Hackmann, John Haug, Brian MacKinnon, Jennifer Marler and Stacie Reardon helped secure the financing.
