“Pro Bono Spotlight” Column Highlights Ropes & Gray’s Work to Represent Families Separated at the U.S. – Mexico Border

On Feb. 14, the Boston Bar Association’s “Pro Bono Spotlight” column featured Ropes & Gray’s Border Initiative, a firmwide effort to assist immigrant children and their parents who were separated at the Texas border as part of the U.S. government’s “zero-tolerance” policy. 

Since June 2018, Ropes & Gray has worked with the Texas Civil Rights Project, RAICES and KIND, nonprofit legal organizations, to represent particularly vulnerable immigrant families. The Ropes & Gray Border Initiative team includes more than 130 attorneys, as well as summer associates, paralegals and other support team members, who have so far devoted more than 9,000 pro bono hours to the firm’s efforts in Texas, which helped reunify all the families the firm represents and secured the release of all from immigration detention.

The piece included remarks from partner and co-chair of Ropes & Gray’s pro bono committee Jenny Rikoski: “Having worked on immigration and asylum cases for over a decade, I immediately asked ‘how can we apply our knowledge and resources in an effective manner to solve this crisis.’ While our work is ongoing, it’s gratifying to know that our team has been able to provide immediate support and guidance to the families we served, and to those we continue to serve.”

Ms. Rikoski was recently named a 2018 “Lawyer of the Year” by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly in recognition of her work leading Ropes & Gray’s Border Initiative, among other accomplishments.