A Shearman & Sterling pro bono team recently helped a refugee from Rwanda win asylum in the United States. The client, Ms. M., was referred to the firm by Human Rights First, a nonpartisan international human rights organization.

Associates Michael Haidas (New York-Litigation), and Carmen Wong (New York-Capital Markets) and legal assistant Laura Jones (New York-Litigation) worked on the matter. Henry Weisburg (New York-Litigation) was the supervising partner. Haidas volunteered because it involved a person from Rwanda, where he worked during law school. While in Rwanda, he “witnessed first-hand the government suppression of dissent that takes place there,” he explains.

The client, Ms. M, lived through years of upheaval and violence in Rwanda, exacerbated by the fact that her father was a member of the minority Tutsi ethnicity, while her mother was a Hutu. As a young girl during the infamous 1994 Rwandan genocide, when hundreds of thousands of Tutsis died at the hands of Hutus, Ms. M witnessed the murder of her father by her Hutu maternal uncle. After the genocide, Ms. M was taken in by relatives, but eventually, facing political pressure and violence, Ms. M was forced to flee across the border to Uganda, where she lived until coming to the US as a student.

Due to lack of funds she was forced to leave school, nullifying her student visa. When her case came to Shearman & Sterling, she was in removal proceedings.

In preparation of her supplemental asylum application and for her merits hearing, “We spent a lot of time going over the details of her life story with her and putting together that story for the judge,” says Haidas. “It was such a compelling story and we knew that we had a good case if we presented it clearly.” Factual evidence bolstered the case, along with an expert opinion and a legal brief.

Haidas and Wong conducted the hearing before an immigration judge. Fortunately, Haidas reports, “You could tell the judge cared a lot – about Ms. M and about the importance of asylum in general.” After hearing Ms. M’s story, the judge immediately indicated that he would grant Ms. M asylum after the necessary background checks are completed. The judge also left Ms. M with some inspiring parting words, Haidas says, telling her that “Everyone in this country came from somewhere – here, you’ll meet Tutsis, Hutus, and many other groups of people, all living side by side in the US.” The judge added, “You will gain a lot by living in this society, and the US will gain a lot by having you here.”

Haidas says the experience has inspired him to continue working on asylum cases, as well as on other matters pertaining to Rwanda. He also continues to hear from Ms. M, who is married and has two children. “She’s a smart, tough person who I admire a lot, and I’ll definitely continue to keep in touch with her,” Haidas says.