As a member of the legal community, we understand we have a special responsibility to use the skills of our lawyers and staff to provide access to justice for those who could not otherwise afford it.
New York Times Afghan Asylum Project
Start with compassion.
In the summer of 2021, the Taliban seized most of Afghanistan in a rapid military sweep that culminated in the fall of Kabul on August 15, 2021. On August 19, 2021, after five desperate days attempting to escape, more than 120 Afghan employees of The New York Times’ Kabul bureau and their family members barely made it aboard a military plane out of Afghanistan. The families made it to the United States on August 31, 2021, and shortly thereafter, a coalition of law firms formed to help those evacuated families apply for asylum.
Take action.
Seyfarth joined the coalition of firms working to help these evacuated Afghan families apply for asylum. Three cross-office, cross-department teams took on three families as pro bono clients. Over the course of almost two years, the three Seyfarth teams worked tirelessly to help these families prepare and file their asylum applications.
The families’ asylum applications had to be filed within one year of their arrival in the United States, so by August 31, 2022. The applications that the teams filed on behalf of the families included extensive briefs, country conditions reports, and exhibits. The families were then interviewed by USCIS, and the Seyfarth teams prepared the families for their interviews and accompanied them to those interviews. Altogether, the three teams recorded hundreds of pro bono hours to this work.
Make an impact.
In the latter half of 2023, all three Seyfarth teams received the wonderful news that all three of their families’ asylum applications had been granted. Thanks to the teams’ unwavering dedication and tremendously hard work, these three families, consisting of 22 people in total, are now able to remain in the United States without any fear of being returned to Afghanistan. They are also eligible to apply for Social Security cards, to obtain authorization to travel outside the United States, and to apply for lawful permanent resident status. In short, they can continue making new lives for themselves here in the United States that are full of hope and promise.
Afghanistan flag photo by Farid Ersad/Unsplash
Other Areas of Impact
Since 2021, across all offices, volunteer attorneys have made the following impact via pro bono legal services:
-
225
families/individuals represented seeking asylum, U-visas, etc.
-
33
abused or neglected children placed into safe homes through adoption
-
919
community-based nonprofit organizations advised on issues ranging from employment to real estate to corporate governance
-
45
ongoing pro bono legal clinics and hotlines
-
22
amicus briefs and related legal research projects
-
48
civil rights matters
-
54
environmental sustainability-focused nonprofit organizations and small businesses provided with legal advice
More Pro Bono Stories
In 2021, 2022, and 2023, Seyfarth partnered with a corporate client and Legal Services NYC to staff multiple pro bono clinics to help those in need. The first of those clinics helped people avoid eviction by applying for emergency rental assistance, and the more recent of those clinics helped transgender and gender nonconforming people secure legal name changes.
Eviction Prevention Emergency Rental Assistance Clinic
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans were facing deep rental debt and feared evictions and the loss of basic housing security. In the fall of 2021, the Association of Pro Bono Counsel and the Law Firm Antiracism Alliance helped mobilize the private bar to assist low-income tenants apply for financial support through the federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP). ERAP provided economic relief to households unable to pay rent and utilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Seyfarth regularly hosted ERAP clinics facilitated by Legal Services NYC to help eligible New Yorkers utilize ERAP and alleviate the threat of eviction. During those clinics, volunteer teams consisting of Seyfarth attorneys and practitioners from the corporate client’s in-house legal team helped people complete and submit ERAP applications. Volunteers received training and support from Legal Services NYC, and ultimately served over a dozen New Yorkers.
Transgender Name Change Clinics
In December 2022 and August 2023, Seyfarth partnered with the corporate client and Legal Services NYC to host clinics that helped low-income transgender and gender nonconforming clients secure legal name changes. Obtaining a legal name change is essential for transgender clients so that they can be treated with dignity and respect, but the name change procedure in New York is intimidating for many clients.
During the clinics, volunteers from the corporate client and Seyfarth gathered for a training on Zoom, then went to virtual breakout rooms to meet with their clients. Because the clinic was fully virtual, volunteers from around the country were able to participate. Members of the corporate client's in-house legal team were partnered with Seyfarth attorneys and legal professionals from multiple offices. In just two clinics, volunteer teams assisted 19 clients with name change petitions.
From 2020 through 2023, Seyfarth had the privilege and pleasure of co-sponsoring with United Airlines Equal Justice Works Fellows Charlie Isaacs and Dominique Mejia. Both are recent law school graduates, and their passion is to pursue careers in public interest law.
Charlie’s host organization for his Fellowship was the Uptown People’s Law Center (UPLC) in Chicago. During his Fellowship, Charlie used community lawyering strategies to support low-income renters in the Chicago neighborhood of Uptown in navigating housing disputes. He also protected people from housing discrimination under Cook County’s new Just Housing Amendment, which prohibits housing discrimination based on prior involvement with the criminal legal system.
Charlie helped UPLC become a leader in JHA legal aid and advocacy, and he helped renters in the neighborhood understand and exercise their rights to safe and stable housing. He delivered legal rights trainings on housing rights in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, and he also helped convince Cook County government to send mailers to landlords on the JHA and to collaborate with Chicago homelessness prevention systems to improve access to housing. A moving video highlighting Charlie’s Fellowship is available here.
Dominique’s host organization for her Fellowship is the National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago. Using legal advocacy, outreach, and litigation, Dominique is protecting Illinois immigrant youth from deportation via a new law that expands eligibility for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), which creates a path to lawful status for immigrant youth who have been abandoned, abused, or neglected. Although federal law makes SIJS available to youth under 21, many states limit eligibility for predicate orders to children under 18, effectively excluding eligible youth based on their residence. In 2021, Illinois expanded eligibility to 18 to 21-year-olds.
As part of her Fellowship, Dominique gave a firmwide presentation to Seyfarth attorneys and legal professionals on SIJS and how they could get involved to help. She also trained and mentored a number of attorneys in our Chicago office in obtaining predicate state court orders for Illinois immigrant youth, which enabled the youth to then apply for SIJS. In addition to supporting Seyfarth attorneys in their pro bono efforts, during her Fellowship, Dominique herself has represented over 60 clients in front of the Chicago Immigration Court, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Chicago Asylum Office. She also won an asylum case for a family who experienced extreme physical and sexual violence in their home country.
Over the past three years, Seyfarth attorneys and legal professionals engaged in numerous cross-office pro bono collaborations. Examples included multi-state research projects for FreeFrom, a nonprofit whose mission is to dismantle the nexus between intimate partner violence and financial insecurity. The Seyfarth team’s research helped FreeFrom launch and update their National Survivor Financial Security Policy Map & Scorecard, which outlines existing laws in the United States impacting survivors’ financial security and provides state-specific policy recommendations that will ensure all survivors have access to the financial resources and support they need to thrive.
Seyfarth attorneys and legal professionals from multiple offices also teamed up on pro bono research projects with Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG), a nonprofit seeking not only to establish and enforce equality under the law, but to also create the social and economic conditions that lead to true equity. One such project involved research to help L4GG develop a database tracking the legal environment relating to reproductive healthcare restrictions and protections in every state in the United States, to serve as a resource for reproductive health care providers across the country.
Multi-office teams of Seyfarth attorneys and legal professionals also collaborated on research projects for L4GG related to racial justice and children’s rights. This included research on state laws around suspension and expulsion in K-12 public schools in the United States, with the aim of ending unnecessary suspensions and expulsions, especially the disproportionate suspensions and expulsions of children of color.
Internal Pro Bono Awards
Each year we recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to our pro bono program and demonstrated a true commitment to improving the lives of people in need. Each award includes a donation to the legal aid organization of the winner’s choice. Please scroll down to see the list of each year’s winners.
Partner of the Year: Rob Whitman (Labor & Employment, New York)
Designated Charity: Election Official Legal Defense Network
Associate of the Year: Ryan Smith (Real Estate, Atlanta)
Designated Charity: Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation
Staff Member of the Year: Carmen Garcia (Senior Business Immigration Analyst; Downtown Los Angeles)
Designated Charity: Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta
Team of the Year: Eric Lloyd (Labor & Employment, San Francisco), Jeff Nordlander (Labor & Employment, Sacramento), and Edgar Osorio (Records Information Supervisor, San Francisco)
Designated Charity: Kids in Need of Defense
Partner of the Year: Arren Goldman (Real Estate, Charlotte)
Designated Charity: North Carolina Pro Bono Resource Center and Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy Access to Justice Campaign
Associate of the Year: Janine Raduechel (Labor & Employment, Downtown Los Angeles)
Designated Charity: Bet Tzedek
Staff Members of the Year: Sallye Thornton (Legal Secretary, Atlanta) and Brittanie Lewis (Business Immigration Specialist, San Francisco)
Designated Charities: Georgia Justice Project and California Rural Legal Assistance
Team of the Year: Bailey Bifoss, Kiran Seldon, Jen Mora, Tim Watson, Beverly Maxwell (multi-office)
Designated Charity: Northern California Innocence Project
Partner of the Year: Whitney Schmidt (Corporate, Chicago)
Designated Charity: National Immigrant Justice Center
Associate of the Year: Owen Wolfe (Litigation, NYC)
Designated Charity: New York Legal Assistance Group
Staff Member of the Year: Jennifer Doctor (Legal Secretary, San Francisco)
Designated Charity: Domestic Violence Prevention - Bay Area Legal Aid
Team of the Year: Anne Dunne and Dawn Mertineit (LIT, BOS)
Designated Charity: Victim Rights Law Center
External Pro Bono Awards
At Seyfarth, we are committed to playing an active, positive role in the communities where we work and live. We are proud of the recognition that our pro bono program and individual volunteers have received over the past three years.
-
2023 Law Firm of the Year Award
Eastside Legal Assistance Program
Seyfarth Shaw -
2023 Community Development Project Small Business Program Pro Bono Award
Public Counsel
Amy Abeloff and Ashley Arnett (Associates, Los Angeles) -
2023 Saturday Lawyer Program Attorney Volunteer of the Year
Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation
Ryan Smith (Associate, Atlanta) -
2022 James Hormel Philanthropy Award
AIDS Legal Referral Panel
Laura Maechtlen (Partner, San Francisco) -
2022 Allegiance Award
Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)
Seyfarth Shaw -
2021 Outstanding Contributor Award
Lawyers for Civil Justice
Alex Meier (Partner, Atlanta) -
2021 Pro Bono Advocate of the Year Award
Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)
Emma Mata (Partner, Houston) -
2021 Partner of the Year Award
Swords to Plowshares
Seyfarth Shaw