| In partnership with the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), Catholic Charities, St. Frances Cabrini Center for Immigrant Legal Assistance, Human Rights First, and Tahirih Justice Center, our Chicago, Houston, New York and Washington, D.C. offices have handled cases involving asylum, domestic abuse of immigrants, unaccompanied immigrant children, and human trafficking. In addition, several of our Seventh Circuit Project cases have involved immigration issues, and the firm has funded successive Equal Justice Works fellows with NIJC. Our New York office also funded an Equal Justice Works fellow to handle the many problems that confront immigrant women.
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 | Mayer Brown Captures Victory at the Supreme Court in Immigration Law Case
The Supreme Court issued its ruling today in Negusie v. Holder (No. 07-499), which presents the question whether an alien compelled by threats of death and serious injury to act as a military guard in a prison where people were being persecuted on the basis of a protected ground is barred from seeking asylum. Together with the Yale Law School Supreme Court Clinic, Mayer Brown provided pro bono representation to the petitioner, Daniel Girmai Negusie, who has applied for asylum. Read >>
| | | Mayer Brown Wins Political Asylum for Ethiopian Diplomat
The Arlington Immigration Court granted political asylum to our client, Mr. A, a former Ethiopian diplomat who was represented pro bono by Gabrielle Butcher, an associate in our Washington office. Read >>
| |  | Mayer Brown argues Eritrean accused of torture deserves asylum
Andy Pincus quoted in article discussing the case he argued at the Supreme Court on whether the US should deny political asylum to a man who, out of fear for his own life, stood by as others were tortured. Read >>
| | | Asylum Victory for Chadian Persecution Victim
15 October 2008 - In January of 2007, Mr. A, a volunteer civics teacher in Chad, was illegally arrested by Chadian security forces. Over a seven-day period, he underwent three separate interrogation sessions where he was repeatedly kicked, burned, whipped with various weapons, and beaten to the point of unconsciousness. Read >>
| | | Asylum Won for African Academic
8 October 2008 - The US Citizen and Immigration Service granted asylum to Mayer Brown pro bono client, Mr. S. A native of Africa, Mr. S was a leading academic in the field of communications, specializing in public relations, journalism and ethics in journalism. Read >>
| | | Mayer Brown Files Amicus Brief On Behalf Of Members of Congress in Case Denying Asylum to Victims of Female Genital Mutilation
22 September 2008 – Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey vacated a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) that denied asylum to a Malian woman who was the victim of female genital mutilation (FGM). Read >>
| | | Mayer Brown Lawyers Prevail in “Boy Soldier” Asylum Case
30 August 2008 - Brian Massengill, Heather Lewis Donnell, Dana Douglas, James Hart, Anne De Geest, and Alisa Harrison have won asylum for their client, K.S., a former child soldier from Sierra Leone. Read >>
| | | Mayer Brown's First Iraqi List Project Success
Mayer Brown has successfully secured refugee status for a pro bono client in association with our involvement with The List Project to Resettle Iraqi Allies. Read >>
| | | Mayer Brown Launches Project to Help Iraqi Refugees
Mayer Brown has launched a pro bono effort to assist Iraqi refugees through the non-profit organization, "The List Project to Help Resettle Iraqi Allies" (www.thelistproject.org), which was profiled on 60 Minutes in May. Read >>
| | | Asylum Granted in Rare Same-Religion Persecution Claim
In a rare case of same-religion, religious persecution, the U.S. government has granted asylum to Mayer Brown pro bono client, Ms. A-J. A native of Saudi Arabia, Ms. A-J was married for more than two decades to a prominent Saudi physician with strong ties to the royal family. Although both Ms. A-J and her husband were Sunni Muslim's, because of her progressive religious beliefs, Ms. A-J's husband punished her by repeatedly raping, verbally and emotionally abusing, and beating her. In response, Ms. A-J defied religious and social norms by obtaining a divorce in July of 2006. Then, the following August, she fled to the United States with her daughter, who was being forced into an early marriage by her father. Read >>
| | | Mayer Brown Sponsors Forum on Iraqi Refugee Crisis
As part of Mayer Brown's pro bono efforts on behalf of Iraqi refugees, the firm co-sponsored the Second Annual Matthew J. Ryan Law and Public Policy Forum on April 4, 2008, at the National Press Club. Read >>
| | | Victory In Seventh Circuit Appeal
On March 13, 2008, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of our pro bono client, Mr. Arturo Escobar-Barraza, in an opinion written by Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook and joined by Judges Richard Posner and Diane Wood. Read >>
| | | Mayer Brown Lawyers Secure Settlement For Somali Refugee In Supreme Court Case
2 January 2008 - Lawyers in the firm's Washington, D.C. and Chicago offices, together with co-counsel from the National Immigrant Justice Center, recently reached a settlement agreement with the United States government in a pro bono immigration case that was pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. Read >>
| | | Victory in Nigerian Asylum Case
On June 27, 2007, Judge Jimmie L. Benton of the Houston Immigration Court granted asylum to our client, a Nigerian national who spent nearly nine months in a detention facility. The case was referred by the YMCA International, and was handled pro bono by Houston attorneys Tristan Propst and Anne Kersch de Santín. Read >>
| | | Victory in Iraqi Asylum Case
On July 10, 2007, the Arlington Asylum Office of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services granted asylum to our client, an Iraqi national, with derivative asylum status going to his wife, also an Iraqi national. Our client was represented pro bono by Michael Paisner and Gary Winters of the Washington, D.C. office, with assistance from a summer associate, Michele Keegan. Read >>
| |  | Excerpted Immigration Speech by Elpidio "PD" Villarreal
Spring 2007 - I want to spend just a few minutes sharing my personal opinions (not necessarily those of my employer), on an issue dividing the nation in this election year-immigration. In particular, I want to talk about how my own history and that of my family colors my view of this issue. Read >>
| | | Asylum Seekers
Spring 2007 - Helping Asylum Seekers Beat the Odds and Escape Oppression Read >>
| | | Asylum Application Granted
5 January 2007 - The Arlington Asylum Office has granted the asylum application of our client, an Ethiopian national, who was represented pro bono by Washington, D.C. associates Heidi Steiber and Gabrielle Butcher, and summer associate Alicia Kinsey. Jeffrey Robertson, a partner in the Washington, D.C. office, supervised the matter. Read >>
| | | Asylum Granted for Anti-FGM Advocate
18 December 2006 - A Guinean national who as a child suffered, and as an adult fought against female genital mutilation was awarded asylum in December 2006. She was represented by a legal team led by Debra Bernard in the Chicago office. Read >>
| | | Seventh Circuit Immigration Victory
15 September 2005 - Mirna E. Adjami, the Firm's Equal Justice Works Fellow, and Reiko E. Suber, an associate in the Chicago office, won a victory for pro bono clients Jaidibe Tapiero de Orejuela and her three sons, Saul Alberto, Carlos Andres and Juan Jose, a Columbian family seeking asylum in the United States. The Orejuelas had been the subject of threats and harassment at the hands of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), an armed, leftist, communist guerilla group fighting for power and control in various regions of Colombia. Read >>
| | | Romani Refugee Discrimination
Summer, 2005 - The London office acted on a pro bono basis for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (the international refugee agency set up by the General Assembly in 1950), who was intervening in a case ultimately decided by the highest court in England and Wales, the House of Lords. The governments of Britain and the Czech Republic had entered into an agreement in 2001 whereby British immigration officers were stationed at Prague airport and gave or refused leave for passengers to enter the United Kingdom before they boarded aircraft in Prague. This was challenged by the European Roma Rights Centre and six individual appellants who had been refused leave to enter, along with UNHCR acting as intervener. Read >>
| | | Lawyers, Clients Reach Out to Each Other in Field of Asylum Law
9 December 2004 - For thousands of refugees who seek political asylum in the United States each year, escaping their native countries is just the first hurdle - finding lawyers who can persuade immigration judges that they deserve to stay can be just as daunting. But help is available: Many big-firm lawyers take on the asylum cases for free, motivated by their own civic and humanitarian impulses and confident that a wealth of resources designed to provide practical support will be there when needed as they venture into unfamiliar territory. Read >>
(Reprinted with permission from Law Bulletin Publishing Company.) | | | Seventh Circuit Issues Favorable Decision on Motion to Transfer Venue
13 July 2004 - Christopher Keleher, an Associate in the Chicago Office, defeated a motion for transfer of venue in a Board of Immigration Appeals case. On 15 June 2004, the Seventh Circuit issued an opinion on a motion in Ramos v. Ashcroft, Docket No. 03-4050. The government, on the day its brief was due, filed a motion to transfer venue to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in lieu of its brief. The basis for the motion was the presence of counsel in Iowa during the immigration proceedings. Read >>
| | | Hard-Earned Idealism
Summer, 2004 - Mirna E. Adjami, our current Equal Justice Works Fellow who worked on the Guantanamo brief, brings a remarkably broad perspective to her work for the Midwest Immigrant and Human Rights Center (MIHRC). Mirna was born in Jakarta, Indonesia, to a Syrian Catholic father and a Swiss mother. At the age of 30, she can claim some hard-earned idealism. Read >>
| | | Winning Streak in Seventh Circuit
Summer, 2004 - Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw lawyers went undefeated in four consecutive pro bono arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago. Two of the victories came on the same day. The Court overturned a life sentence because the defendant was not provided a public trial; reinstated
a prison abuse case; invalidated a murder conviction; and ordered a new sentencing hearing in a former death penalty case. Read >>
| | | One Day Before Joining Them, Jim Keller Defeats the U.S. Government in Court
2 March 2004 - Congratulations to Jim Keller who, on his last day in our office, obtained a great victory for a pro bono client. The client, Mohammed Kromah, was a Liberian seeking asylum in the United States. Mr. Kromah had been subjected to torture and hard labor in Liberia simply for belonging to a particular ethnic group. Read >>
| | | The Patriot
Fall, 2003 - In the aftermath of 11 September, the INS took a hard look at many of the foreign nationals it had earlier permitted into the country - a reasonable precaution, many would agree, given the threats we still face from terrorists. Read >>
| | | Helping Immigrant Women Break Free of Domestic Violence
Fall, 2003 - For the past two years, Camille Carey has represented hundreds of abused immigrant women as an Equal Justice Works fellow at the Legal Aid Society in Brooklyn. "Battered immigrant women are particularly dependent upon their abuser because without the abuser's sponsorship, they may have no legal status of their own," said Camille. Read >>
| | | Endangered Populations
May, 2000 - "I was home alone with my daughter. At about 1:00 a.m., I heard pounding and kicking on my front door...I looked through a hole in the door and saw about six men standing outside. They were all heavily armed. They were talking, and at times yelling, and I could hear them say that they were going to kill me." Read >>
| | | Asilo Politico: Martha's Story
May, 2000 - In many cases, refugees face deportation to hostile countries, where they risk torture, imprisonment -even death-for their race, religion, or political beliefs. Since its founding in 1985, MIHRC has helped more than 3,000 refugees from 45 nations around the world. MIHRC is one of the largest and most successful pro bono asylum projects, with a 2/1 success rate in asylum or other relief from deportation projects. Read >>
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