02.17.10 Progress through Partnership
Organizing for Social Change in Chicago
Join us on Thursday, March 25 at the Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago Appleseed and Appleseed are proud to announce their upcoming spring gala, "Organizing for Social Change in Chicago." We'll honor William Von Hoene (Exelon Corporation) with our "Corporate Leader Award" for his efforts to promote and practice pro bono work in the corporate legal community. Roger Pascal (Schiff Hardin LLP) will receive our "Unsung Hero" award for his commitment to pro bono excellence in Chicago. Kirkland & Ellis LLP will receive our "Pro Bono Champion" award for their extraordinary leadership in pro bono work on Chicago Appleseed's behalf.
Please join us for an elegant cocktail reception and program.
DATE: Thursday, March 25, 2010
TIME: Reception begins at 6:00pm, program begins at 7:30pm
LOCATION: The Art Institute of Chicago, 230 S. Columbus (special event entrance), Chicago, Illinois 60611
Sponsors to date include:
Exelon Corporation
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
DLA Piper US LLP
Schiff Hardin LLP
Abbott
Allstate
Baker & McKenzie LLP
Sidley Austin LLP
Winston & Strawn LLP
Stanley J. and Mary Beth Adelman
Barnes & Thornburg
Epstein, Becker & Green P.C.
Greenburg Traurig
Northern Trust
Special thanks to our event co-chairs:
Stanley J. Adelman, DLA Piper US LLP
Rick Godfrey, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Barbara Harding, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Paul Lovejoy
Chaka Patterson, Exelon Corporation
Thomas B. Quinn, Schiff Hardin LLP
To sponsor the event or purchase tickets, contact Event Planner Nakia Kelly at 202-347-7960.
A Call for Immigration Court Reform
A Chicago Appleseed Policy Statement
Last year, Appleseed and the Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice released a comprehensive report, Assembly Line Injustice, outlining findings that American immigration courts regularly fall beneath basic standards of justice. The report compiled the reports of trained court-watchers as well as over 100 interviews with individuals who are involved in immigration court on a day-to-day basis, including practitioners (pro bono and fee-charging), officials of nonprofit associations and professional organizations, academics, and governmental players. The report offered 34 recommendations aimed at promoting accuracy, efficiency, and legitimacy throughout the immigration court process.
Many of these recommendations are practical reforms that would help repair many of the problems cited in our report without dramatic overhaul of the entire system. Others involve more sweeping changes.
Moreover, Appleseed and Chicago Appleseed are not alone in calling for reform. The American Bar Association recently released its report on the immigration court system, calling for new policies and practices. Many of these reforms overlap the recommendations found in Assembly Line Injustice. It is clear that the immigration court system is in need of substantial, immediate change.
There are many fine immigration judges and government attorneys working in this underfunded and yet critically important judicial system. But we heard of too many cases in which judges would engage in verbal abuse, mocking a pro bono attorney for being a "New York big firm do-gooder" or yelling at an immigrant for not looking him in the eye, not understanding that eye contact was inappropriate in the immigrant's culture. We heard repeatedly that training of immigration judges is inadequate. In one case, responding to an immigrant s claim that he faced persecution as a result of sexual orientation, a judge declared that the immigrant "didn't look gay" and denied asylum...
Read the full policy statement here.