Pro bono has always been one of the core values of Arnold & Porter LLP, beginning with the firm's representation of the victims of McCarthyism in the 1950s and continuing with the firm's role in establishing the right to counsel in the famous case of Gideon v. Wainwright in 1963. Arnold & Porter's goal is to have a pro bono program that is second to none.

This is borne out by the statistics from 2010, when the firm's pro bono time totaled over 75,000 hours - an average of 116 pro bono hours per lawyer. The firm has consistently ranked near the very top on The American Lawyer's pro bono rankings. The level of participation also was very high, with approximately 75 percent of Arnold & Porter lawyers billing at least 20 pro bono hours. All lawyers are encouraged to spend up to 15 percent of their time on pro bono matters and to work on at least one pro bono matter each year.

Although Arnold & Porter's pro bono program is diverse and does not have one "signature project," a major, longstanding component of the pro bono program is the area of immigrants' rights. Click here to read our pro bono immigration brochure.

Arnold & Porter has an extensive pro bono immigration practice covering a wide range of activities including:

• Conducting "know your rights" visits to immigrant detainees in jail.
• Assisting immigrants at "credible fear" interviews.
• Preparing affirmative asylum applications.
• Preparing defensive asylum applications and appearing at full hearings before immigration judges.
• Preparing briefs in appeals from immigration judge decisions to the Board of Immigration Appeals.
• Preparing briefs and arguing appeals from Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decisions to federal Courts of Appeals.
• Preparing habeas corpus petitions for immigrants set for deportation who have been detained in violation of a Supreme Court ruling limiting such detention to six months.
• Filing comments on new procedural regulations.
• Assisting immigrant victims of domestic violence in preparing and filing "self petitions" under the Violence Against Women Act of 1996 (VAWA).
• Assisting immigrants in obtaining U visas in order to allow victims of crimes to remain legally in the United States.
• Assisting immigrants in obtaining T visas in order to allow victims of trafficking to remain legally in the United States.
• At the request of the American Bar Association's Commission on Immigration, researching and preparing a comprehensive report with numerous recommendations for reforms to the United States immigration adjudication removal system.

Arnold & Porter attorneys have represented refugees seeking asylum in the United States from many countries, including the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire), Ethiopia, Somalia, Guyana, Cameroon, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Mali, Serbia, Burundi, Guatemala, Republic of Togo, Eritrea, Iran, Honduras, Estonia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Liberia, Kenya, Tibet, Bangladesh, Ghana, Guinea, Afghanistan, and Mongolia.

During 2009, Arnold & Porter, in addition to spending approximately 10,000 hours on the extensive study for the ABA Commission on Immigration on "Reforming the Immigration System," devoted approximately 7,000 hours to handling pro bono immigration cases.