For Immediate Release Contact: Liz Moore, Lauren Sucher,
February 4, 2005 EWG 202/667-6982
John Boyd, NBFA 804/691-8528

Unlicensed Lawyer Handled Six Cases For Government

(Washington, February 4) - Environmental Working Group (EWG) and the National Black Farmers' Association (NBFA) today call for the reexamination of racial discrimination settlements that were fought by a US Department of Justice (DOJ) employee who now faces criminal charges for practicing law without a license.

The claims were filed by black farmers against the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and handled by Margaret O'Shea, who is now being prosecuted for practicing law without a license. The Bush Administration has repeatedly refused to comment on O'Shea's work on the farmers' cases while an employee at the DOJ.

Documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request show that Margaret O'Shea lied on her job application to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and was hired as a lawyer despite not being licensed to practice law. The documents also reveal that O'Shea was exclusively assigned to work on the cases of six black farmers who were part of a landmark class action lawsuit in which the US Department of Agriculture agreed in a settlement to pay for decades of racial discrimination.

EWG and NBFA want the DOJ to explain the role that O'Shea played in settling these farmers' legal claims while posing as a licensed attorney for the Department of Justice.

The groups call on the Monitor of the settlement program to reexamine those individual cases to ensure those farmers a fair chance at justice. They further ask DOJ to perform proper background checks to assure that all other employees who worked as lawyers on up to 22,000 farmers' cases were indeed licensed to practice law.

Arianne Callender of EWG said, "Margaret O'Shea worked to challenge these six farmers' claims after the Department of Agriculture admitted to systematically discriminating against them for decades. To learn that she was not even licensed to practice law while she did so adds insult to injury."

NBFA President John Boyd said, "These six farmers deserve to have their cases reexamined by the settlement's Monitor."

The documents EWG obtained include O'Shea's resume and job application where she claims to be licensed to the California bar, and the DOJ new hire form showing that she was hired as an attorney specifically to work on the discrimination case. These documents, the criminal charge pending against O'Shea and EWG's report about the settlement, co-authored with the NBFA, "Obstruction of Justice," are available at http://www.ewg.org.

###

EWG is a not-for-profit research organization that uses the power of information to protect human health and the environment.

NBFA has been fighting to save the black and small farmers since 1995.