The Philadelphia law firm of Morgan Lewis recently celebrated the exoneration of John Thompson, who spent 18 years on Louisiana’s death row before two of the firm’s partners helped to win his freedom. Firm partners J. Gordon Cooney Jr. and Michael L. Banks provided Thompson with pro bono services that cost the firm $1.7 million in legal work and expenses over a 15-year period and involved 90 lawyers and support staff. According to the city’s bar association, there is a massive need for additional lawyers to do more. Sharon Browning, executive director of the bar association’s Volunteers for Indigent Defense, said, “I can’t even begin to tell you how vast the need is. It’s huge. The overwhelming majority of people who are poor have no access to the legal system — none.” Even with the extraordinary representation by Morgan Lewis, Thompson came close to execution in 1999 until a piece of evidence was discovered that had been withheld from the defense in 1985. (Philadelphia Inquirer) See DPIC’s report With Justice for Few: The Growing Crisis in Death Penalty Representation.

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