Ropes & Gray Honored with “2020 Beacon of Justice Award” by the National Legal Aid & Defender Association

Ropes & Gray has been named a 2020 Beacon of Justice Awardee by the National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) for the firm’s “extraordinary pro bono work serving vulnerable people fleeing to the U.S. border.” The Firm was honored by NLADA on September 16, 2020.

In naming Ropes & Gray an awardee, NLADA lauds the firm’s “thoughtful and often unique approach to pro bono work in this space.” In 2019, Ropes & Gray assisted over 70 clients who had come to the U.S. through the Mexican border with their quest for asylum. This work followed the firm’s robust response to the Trump administration’s family separation policy in 2018, when Ropes & Gray teams headed to Texas detention centers to help reunite families and seek their release from detention, in partnership with the Texas Civil Rights Project and RAICES. The firm also took to the courts in 2019 with nonprofit partners to challenge pernicious U.S. and state policies that undermine legal protections for asylum seekers and legal permanent residents.

Ropes & Gray’s immigration work is part of the firm’s longstanding commitment to “practice with purpose.” For its efforts, the firm was also recognized as “Pro Bono Program of the Year” by Chambers in 2019.