Crowell & Moring's Tim Means and Sherrie Armstrong Recognized in National Law Journal's Pro Bono Hot List

Washington, D.C. – January 5, 2015: Crowell & Moring LLP is pleased to announce that partner Thomas (Tim) Means and associate Sherrie A. Armstrong, both Washington, D.C.-based members of the firm's Environmental & Natural Resource Group, have been named in the National Law Journal's 2015 "Pro Bono Hot List." The annual list spotlights attorneys who provide extraordinary pro bono legal services to clients who would otherwise not have access to high-level legal representation.

Means and Armstrong were featured for their success in a clemency case on behalf of Stephanie Yvette George, a former hairdresser who was sentenced to life in prison in 1997 in connection to her low level, non-violent involvement in her ex-boyfriend's drug ring. The attorneys first began working on George's case in 2012, after Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM), a nonprofit prison reform advocacy group, referred her case to the firm. After a year of thorough legal work in an area where case law is scarce, Means and Armstrong scored a victory for George who was granted commutation of her sentence to time served in December 2013.

George was finally freed from prison in April 2014. Her clemency is of particular note because President Obama has granted commutations to only 18 of the more than 15,000 prisoners who have requested them.

Even though the attorneys worked with George for over a year, she only met Means and Armstrong in person for the first time at a celebratory event in May 2014. "I felt like I knew him all my life. He was so comforting," George said of Means. Since 2007, Means has won each of the four federal clemency cases he's handled, including successfully representing Eugenia Jennings, who in 2011 was the only person who had her prison sentence commuted (to time-served) by President Obama during his first term of office.

Crowell & Moring LLP is an international law firm with more than 500 lawyers representing clients in litigation and arbitration, regulatory, and transactional matters. The firm is internationally recognized for its representation of Fortune 500 companies in high-stakes litigation, as well as its ongoing commitment to pro bono service and diversity. The firm has offices in Washington, DC, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orange County, Anchorage, London, and Brussels.