Jim Walden’s pro bono focus is on protecting people from the power of government. He filed a class action against the Social Security Administration, alleging a systematic failure to fairly adjudicate disability claims. He brought an action against the National Park Service for illegally removing two Civil War-era historic landmarks. He challenged the federal government’s practice of deporting aliens after two unrelated drug possessions. He sued the government to restore food stamp benefits to more than 11,000 disabled New Yorkers; represented a transgendered man suing a state-funded drug treatment center; challenged Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on changes to term limits; and sued New York City to remove a bike lane in Brooklyn.
He also has represented law enforcement officers, including a senior FBI official in a civil proceeding challenging the rendition of terrorism suspects to foreign countries, an FBI agent accused of disclosing sensitive information to a confidential source, and a retired NYPD detective accused of killing an attacker.
