Sheppard Mullin Recognizes Andrea Feathers as 2018 Pro Bono Attorney of the Year
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP is pleased to announce today that it awarded Los Angeles associate Andrea Feathers with the firm’s 2018 Bob Gerber Pro Bono Attorney of the Year Award, which honors and recognizes a Sheppard Mullin attorney who has demonstrated a significant commitment to pro bono work.
“We could not be more proud of Andrea’s dedication to pro bono work, which she undertakes while carrying a heavy billable work load. Andrea is a role model for all of our attorneys,” said Dan Brown, Sheppard Mullin’s Pro Bono Partner.
Feathers recorded more than 370 hours on pro bono cases in a variety of diverse and important matters to protect civil rights, the First Amendment, and those fleeing persecution from their home countries and seeking asylum.
Notably, Feathers leads a Sheppard Mullin team serving as co-counsel with the ACLU and the National Center for Youth Law in Sigma Beta Xi v. County of Riverside, a case seeking to remedy practices in a juvenile diversion program for students in Riverside County. The suit alleges that the program applies harsh probation conditions to children who have not been convicted of crimes, such as surprise searches, unannounced home visitations, strict restrictions on who participants can speak to, curfews, and interrogations into intimate details of their lives in violation of their Constitutional rights. The program is far more likely to be applied to youths of color.
Students have been referred to the program for offenses as slight as having a poor academic record, tardiness, or talking back to teachers. Without judicial oversight, advice from an attorney or a full disclosure of the details of the program, students and their families are often pressured into signing on to the program in a highly coercive environment.
Feathers remarked, “It’s humbling to work on advancing Constitutional rights and protecting individuals who cannot afford legal representation. I’m proud that Sheppard Mullin supports and encourages this important work. My dedication to public interest work is inspired by my law school professors and classmates from UC Irvine, the judge I clerked for, the Hon. Andrew J. Guilford, and the many Sheppard Mullin attorneys who do a wide range of incredible pro bono work.”
Feathers received her J.D. from the University of California, Irvine in 2012. She graduated with Pro Bono High Honors, served as Notes Editor for the UC Irvine Law Review, and co-founded and served as President of the Women's Law Society. After law school, she clerked for federal District Judge Andrew J. Guilford. Feathers is currently a member of Sheppard Mullin’s Business Trial practice group.
Sheppard Mullin's Bob Gerber Pro Bono Attorney of the Year Award is the firm’s highest pro bono honor, recognizing and rewarding the important community service work done by Sheppard Mullin attorneys. The award is named in honor and memory of Bob Gerber, the founder of Sheppard Mullin’s pro bono program and its leader for more than a decade.