Asylum Legal Representation Program
Lawyers Making a Difference
Through the Asylum Legal Representation Program at Human Rights First, volunteer lawyers have the unique opportunity to change the lives of refugees by helping them win asylum in the United States. Our program’s clients have fled from political, religious, ethnic, and gender-based persecution in countries plagued by human rights violations. They cannot afford counsel and desperately need representation. Volunteer lawyers learn about U.S. asylum law and international human rights law and have the chance to represent individual clients at an asylum interview or a hearing before an immigration judge.
Through its legal representation work, the Refugee Protection Program serves as a more effective advocate for legal reform and policy change on issues affecting asylum seekers in the United States. The cases assigned to pro bono volunteers through the representation program inform Human Rights First’s advocacy goals by providing real-life evidence of the challenges asylum seekers face upon their arrival in the United States.
Attorneys: Volunteer with These Organizations
"By providing representation to asylum seekers, we are contributing to the fight for a better world.”
— Pro bono lawyer Melvina Lecaros, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
New York - Human Rights First
Washington, DC - Human Rights First
Minnesota - Minnesota Advocates
San Diego - Casa Cornelia
San Francisco - Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights
Boston - Political Asylum/Immigration Representation (PAIR) Project
Pro Bono Success Stories
Skadden, Arps,
Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Attorneys at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP win asylum
for an Afghan doctor who fled torture at the hand of the Taliban
after helping a woman deliver her baby.
McCarter &
English, LLP
Attorney at McCarter & English, LLP wins asylum for client after
3 ½ years in detention.
Davis Polk &
Wardwell
Attorney at Davis Polk & Wardwell win asylum and release from
detention for Congolese torture survivor.
LeBoeuf, Lamb,
Greene & MacRae L.L.P.
Attorneys at LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae L.L.P. win asylum
for gay couple who in Colombia were targeted for their sexual orientation.
Lowenstein
Sandler PC
Attorney at Lowenstein Sandler PC wins asylum for law student pro-democracy
activist and torture survivor from Sudan.
Schulte Roth
& Zabel LLP
Attorneys at Shulte Roth & Zabel LLP win asylum for Congolese
minister’s family and reunite the family’s young children
with their parents.
Howrey Simon
Arnold & White, L.L.P.
Attorneys at Howrey Simon Arnold & White, L.L.P. win asylum
for a southern Sudanese student activist.
Gibson, Dunn
& Crutcher L.L.P.
Attorneys at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher L.L.P. continue to fight
for asylum for their formerly detained client, a pro-democracy activist
and torture survivor from Cameroon, who applied for asylum six years
ago.
Latham
& Watkins
Attorneys at Latham & Watkins win asylum for a Chechen doctor
whose life was threatened by both Russian soldiers and Chechen rebels.
Hunton
& Williams
Attorneys at Hunton & Williams win asylum for a former monk
and torture survivor form Tibet.
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP
White &
Case
Attorneys at White & Case win asylum for Sierra Leonean woman
and her 3 children.