The Legal Aid Society and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton have won a decision vacating the second-degree murder conviction of Shawn Williams, who after serving about 25 years in prison, walked away a free man on July 13.

Cleary partner Victor Hou said the defense spent more than 3,000 hours on the case in the last five years. With Hou leading the Cleary team, the firm assigned five associates to the case, including Samuel Hershey, who visited Williams about a dozen times in prison.