Paul Hastings Secures Pro Bono Win on Behalf of West Virginia Families Against Newly Enacted Private School Voucher Law

Paul Hastings LLP, a leading global law firm, secured a preliminary and permanent injunction on behalf of parents and children in West Virginia public schools—enjoining the nation’s only universal voucher program, which would have siphoned off over $120 million a year in public funds to subsidize the private school education of affluent students.

“We are thrilled for our clients and public school families across the state and country,” said partner Tammy Godley. “Stopping the voucher program was absolutely essential to protect the state’s students and their public schools. Public education is a cornerstone of our democracy and we have to be vigilant in protecting this fundamental right.”

Judge Joanna Tabit of the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, West Virginia, granted the request to stop the implementation of the voucher program in the case Beaver v. Moore. In its preliminary injunction motion, the Paul Hastings team successfully argued the voucher law violated the Education Clause of the West Virginia Constitution on five separate grounds. The Court agreed on every count.

The Paul Hastings team was led by Godley, and included associates Tim Reynolds, Jesse Suh, Zoe Lo, and Ben Gilberg. Godley has long been active in work to protect public education; she also led the team that permanently enjoined Nevada’s attempt at a universal voucher program, arguing against and prevailing over well-known advocate, Paul Clement, in the Nevada Supreme Court. She is a founder of the organization Public Funds Public Schools, an initiative focusing on protecting public education funding, with the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Education Law Center. Paul Hastings is committed to pro bono work and the global community.

In 2021, the firm’s lawyers performed more than 77,000 hours of pro bono service, with nearly all lawyers in our U.S. offices and almost half of lawyers in our international offices contributing 20 or more pro bono hours. Learn more about Paul Hastings pro bono and community efforts here.

About Paul Hastings

Dedicated to providing intellectual capital and superior execution to the world’s leading Wall Street and global investment banks, asset managers and corporations, Paul Hastings is a premier global finance law firm with elite teams in finance, mergers and acquisitions, private equity and litigation. It is one of only a handful of law firms ranked across multiple core finance areas including: structured credit, leveraged finance, private credit, capital markets, and real estate finance.

Paul Hastings is ranked as one of the top firms in the world in The American Lawyer’s “Premier League” for momentum, profit and prestige amongst firms in the 2022 American Lawyer 100.