AILA Announces Winter 2014/2015 AILA Pro Bono Heroes Honorees

AILA is pleased to announce the most recently named recipients of the "Pro Bono Heroes" awards. Over the course of the fall & winter months, the AILA National Pro Bono Services Committee solicited nominations of organizations or institutions around the country that promote or contribute to pro bono legal assistance. These organizations are considered role models by their promotion of pro bono as a professional value and their generosity with time and resources. After considering all of the nominees, we are glad to recognize the following AILA Pro Bono Heroes:

NORTHEAST REGION
Catholic Charities, Diocese of Cleveland, Migration and Refugee Services - Catholic Charities/MRS works to provide access to justice for lesser-served and vulnerable members of the immigrant population and promotes pro bono service among the private bar. Founded in 1945 and located in Cleveland, Ohio, Catholic Charities/MRS helps facilitate assistance state wide, and has actively coordinated legal assistance in response to the surge in the Juvenile and Family dockets. Catholic Charities/MRS has arranged pro bono attorneys, legal interns, and interpreters to be present at all Juvenile and Family dockets. Many non-profit agencies have risen to this task in response to the border surge of 2014. What is notable about the assistance provided by Catholic Charities/MRS is that they have managed to provide this invaluable assistance while grieving the untimely loss of an honored and valued member of their team. Immigration Attorney Sala Gembala died unexpectedly in August 2014, leaving a loving husband, toddler son, infant daughter, grieving family, friends and co-workers. It is a testament to Sala's memory that her agency and colleagues banded together in the face of this inexplicable tragedy. They continue to honor Sala by ensuring access to justice, and safeguarding legal assistance for the most vulnerable, and we applaud them for their dedication to this cause.

SOUTHEAST REGION:
Catholic Legal Services Archdiocese of Miami, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting those in need in the Miami area. Catholic Legal Services, Archdiocese of Miami, Inc. (CCLS) focuses exclusively on helping poor immigrants obtain asylum, establish legal residency, become citizens and reunite families. CCLS' multicultural, multilingual staff help people from more than 80 different nations. As a provider of legal assistance and representation for immigrants, refugees, and impoverished people in the Archdiocese of Miami, CCLS provides a full range of immigration-related legal services, from initial advice, to assistance, to full representation, to a low-income clientele. In partnership with AILA South Florida Chapter's Pro Bono Committee, they hold free CLEs for attorneys who are interested in pro bono representation. Attorneys from these trainings assisted in a large surge of cases before the Miami Immigration Courts dealing with unaccompanied minors between July and September of 2014 - sometimes over 50 to 100 cases per day during this period. In addition, with the ongoing assistance of the AILA South Florida Pro Bono Project, they also took the lead in organizing mega drives to conduct intakes of children on Saturdays in hopes of matching attorneys with unrepresented children. Catholic Legal Services Archdiocese of Miami mentors pro bono attorneys representing unaccompanied minor children cases and provides training materials and samples. CCLS has also been the umbrella agency for the Krome Mental Incompetency Project, which aims to ensure that all mentally incompetent detainees in the Krome Immigration Court are represented by counsel. CCLS has consistently signed off on amicus briefs, including before the US Supreme Court, on an emergency basis, in cases of local and national importance. Large law firms, individual AILA members, and the immigrant community of Miami as a whole have largely benefited from the tremendous services provided by CCLS, and we are honored to hold them out as leaders in the pro bono space.

CENTRAL REGION:
University of Houston Law Center's Immigration Clinic, established in 1999 by the late Professor Joseph A. Vail, is an outstanding example of pro bono leadership. The UH Law Center has developed into one of the largest pro bono law clinics in the country. The clinic serves the immigrant community not only in Houston, but throughout Texas, encouraging law students to consider pro bono practice after school. Equally important, however, UH Immigration Clinic also inspires private attorneys to engage in pro bono work. The center offers multiple trainings as well as workshops annually to private and pro bono counsel, committed to providing legal assistance to the area's low income immigrants. One of UH's major initiatives, for example, recruits and trains attorneys to serve UAC's. Another important initiative is UH Law Center's long-term work at the Karnes detention center. The Karnes detention center is only one of many detention facilities where UH Law Center provides pro bono assistance to detainees. UH's service in detention centers covers a broad range of issues - - bond and removal proceedings representation for UAC and other asylum claims, VAWA, as well as T and U visa cases, to mention only the most numerous types of cases. Finally, a cornerstone of the exceptional work of UH is its unwavering willingness and ready availability to provide guidance to pro bono counsel.

WEST REGION
The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP), located in Washington State, is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to assisting and representing immigrants and refugees. It is the only organization of its kind in the state and specializes in providing direct representation to immigrants and pursuing impact litigation with the support of a pro bono attorney team. NWIRP also relies on a corps of 250 attorneys who take cases that are beyond the organization's resources to help, and NWIRP provides training and assistance in those cases. NWIRP has also joined forces with the Washington AILA chapter to host pro bono clinics, particularly since DACA launched in 2012. Because of its work and commitment to pro bono representation and community education, many immigrants in the state of Washington received assistance to which they would not otherwise have had access. Numerous pro bono projects have become possible and have succeeded because of NWIRP; their impact in the greater Washington area is invaluable.

Please note - the AILA Pro Bono Heroes initiative will be transitioning to a new and exciting AILA pro bono recognition program later in the year. Please stay tuned to www.aila.org/probono for details!

Thank you to all who have participated in this important program and for allowing us to shine a light on those who you feel are Pro Bono exemplars in your chapters and communities. We congratulate all those who have been nominated &/or selected over the course of the program, and look forward to highlighting even more of your inspiring work in the months and years to come!