Page 11 - Katten 2021 Pro Bono Annual Review

Immigration Cases Capture Hearts and

Inspire Passionate Advocacy

When considering the pro bono work he does, Katten associate Weston Love
thinks immediately about helping youth from Central America achieve Special
Immigrant Juvenile Status. The unique legal designation can help pave the way
You and your colleagues are terrific for permanent residency in the United States. That road to residency is long
and often treacherous. The young clients he has represented came to him
advocates, and we are so grateful for
having experienced heartbreaking abuse, neglect and abandonment. Yet
your extraordinary pro bono support. Weston found inspiration in their journeys.
I know my colleagues at the National

Immigrant Justice Center were pleased Through all of the pain they experienced at such a young
to work with your team, who used their age, they have exemplified the strength of the human
legal expertise and advocacy skills to spirit and unimaginable perseverance. I feel enriched by
the opportunity to help, even in a minor way, these young
secure a victory in a challenging case …
people receive the protection they seek and deserve.”
We are so grateful to you and your
colleagues. You are a role model of
quality pro bono lawyering!”

MARY MEG MCCARTHY, NIJC
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Weston Love
In addition to the immigration clients Weston helps
ASSOCIATE, DALLAS
through Human Rights Initiative of North Texas,
Katten attorneys and business professionals across
the country have represented young immigrants.

In May, a team from Katten secured Special Immigrant Juvenile Status for a
Honduran girl who attempted to enter the United States at age 15 to join her
mother, who migrated to the United States when her daughter was an infant to earn
money for the family.

The client, who never knew her biological father, spent the first 14 years of her life
in Honduras with her grandparents. The teen attempted to enter the United States
in 2019 and was immediately slated for removal.

Through the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, Katten professionals began working on the case
in February 2020. The team worked to have the client’s mother, who is living in the United States on an
expired visa, declared her sole custodial parent. Katten’s team navigated Virginia’s juvenile court system
when it was all but closed, notarized and authenticated documents when Katten’s office was closed, trans-
lated and read various declarations to and from English and Spanish, and visited the client and her mother
in public parks in a “socially distanced” manner. In October 2020, the juvenile court awarded sole custody
to the client’s mother.
The cross-departmental and collaborative Katten team included Class Action/Consumer Finance
Litigation partner Claudia Callaway, Intellectual Property partner Christopher Ferenc, Employee Benefits
and Executive Compensation associate David Mohl, Structured Finance and Securitization associate Noe
Burgos, legal executive assistant Rosemary Hood and docket assistant Darlene Lathon.

In August, the team learned their client’s Special Immigrant Juvenile Status application was granted.

KATTEN 2021 PRO BONO ANNUAL REVIEW 9
KATTEN 2021 PRO BONO ANNUAL REVIEW