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Pro Bono Pro Bono Cases

Pro Bono Representative Highlights

Our pro bono counsel works with organizations in the community to identify their needs and to find opportunities suited to the talents of our attorneys.

Through this effort, our attorneys have been able to work on matters in numerous areas of the law such as:

Immigration
Public Benefits
Domestic Violence
Permanency for Children
Personal Injury
Copyright
Insurance
Debt Collection/Identity Theft
Housing
Educational Advocacy
Community Clinics
Civil Liberties
Voting Rights
Women’s Rights
Police Misconduct
Disability Rights

Pro Bono Case Highlight: Immigration

Two Howrey attorneys, Buddy Burns and Will Lavery, successfully represented "Mr. O," a citizen of the Republic of the Congo, whom the Congolese government persecuted because of his Nzabi ethnicity and his political opinions. During the 1999 civil war in the Congo, the government took Mr. O and about 300 other Nzabi men to a military prison. Mr. O and the others were held for seven days under horrible conditions. On the seventh day, the military guards executed the other prisoners in what is now known as "The Massacre at the Beach." Mr. O is the only known survivor of the massacre. By luck, he knew one of the executioners. This acquaintance pretended to shoot Mr. O, who laid on the pile of dead bodies for hours, pretending to be dead, until all of the officers left.

Five years later, Mr. O agreed to testify against the military leaders who ordered the massacre. The night before he was scheduled to testify, military officials tried to stop him by firing machine guns into his house and eventually setting it on fire, killing Mr. O’s friend who was inside with him. Mr. O escaped the burning house by jumping out of a window after the military officials fled. Mr. O, fearful that his life was in danger, fled to the United States. Following an extensive interview, at which Will and Buddy represented him, Mr. O was granted asylum.