2022-2023 Pro Bono Program Review

O’Melveny Fights for Fair Public School Funding

At Stake

Collaborators

The Outcome

1.7 million students’ access to quality and equal public education in Pennsylvania

The Education Law Center and the Public Interest Law Center

Pennsylvania’s legislators were ordered to find a solution to end systemic educational inequities

Photo: O’Melveny attorneys (from left) Anne Marchitello, Daniel Cantor, and Nicole Argentieri litigate on behalf of PA school children.

“To receive that order from the judge was so rewarding, knowing the impact it will have on every student. This has been the most incredible and gratifying experience, both professionally and personally, of my entire career so far.” —O’Melveny attorney Anne Marchitello, daughter of a public school teacher

O’Melveny’s pro bono team won a landmark victory in February 2023 for Pennsylvania’s underfunded school districts and disadvantaged schoolchildren. In a precedent-setting 786-page decision, Judge Jubelirer agreed with O’Melveny’s trial team, finding “no rational basis” for the discrepancies in district funding, which have created a two-tier educational system that shortchanged students in the poorest neighborhoods. She agreed that students in disadvantaged school districts lacked the resources, curriculum, and facilities available to their wealthier counterparts, in violation of the Pennsylvania Constitution. Schools in these districts suffered from crumbling facilities, non- working bathrooms, a lack of functional desks, an insufficient number of text books, and more. Marchitello was one of nearly 80 O’Melveny lawyers from across the country who helped achieve this precedent-setting win. O’Melveny dedicated nearly a decade to litigating this matter up and down the courts, which culminated in a 49-day trial that featured 41 witnesses and more than 1,100 exhibits highlighting inequities baked into a system that relies on local property taxes to fund schools.

The case would not have made it to trial at all had O’Melveny not won its appeal in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court after the 2014 dismissal of a lawsuit brought on behalf of parents, school districts, and advocacy groups. For O’Melveny Counsel Anne Marchitello, this case was personal. “Education is deeply meaningful to me,” she said. “I’m the daughter of a career public school teacher. And my husband taught in an inner-city high school in Philadelphia so starved for resources that it was ultimately ordered closed. I value education and its ability to change lives.”

total number of firmwide pro bono hours in 2023 78,355

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PRO BONO PROGRAM REVIEW 2022-2023