Covington Receives The Gribbon Pro Bono Advocacy Award

WASHINGTON—Covington received the 2022 Daniel M. Gribbon Pro Bono Advocacy Award for the pro bono service it provided in Vote Forward v. DeJoy, a voting rights suit that challenged the implementation of United States Postal Service (USPS) policies that resulted in widespread mail delivery delays leading up to the 2020 general election.

Covington obtained a preliminary injunction and a series of emergency orders that required USPS to take extraordinary measures to ensure the timely delivery of mail‐in ballots, including the use of express mail and sending inspectors to processing locations in several states to monitor delivery. After the 2020 general election, Covington negotiated an agreement with USPS to use similar extraordinary measures for the Georgia Senate runoff elections in January 2021.

The Covington team included James (Jay) Smith, Sarah Suwanda, Virginia Williamson, Habin Chung, Daniel Auten, Rob Fram, Larry Hobel, Diane Ramirez, and John Fraser.

The Gribbon Award recognizes an individual or law firm that has demonstrated distinguished advocacy before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in a pro bono matter that concluded during the designated time period.