Author: Abigail Krusemark, Immigrant Youth Resources Coordinator (AmeriCorps VISTA), Immigration Advocates Network
The Immigration Advocates Network (IAN) is excited to announce its fourth annual e-conference fundraiser, “Cutting Edge Issues in Immigration Law,” from November 2 to November 6, 2015. In honor of National Celebrate Pro Bono Week, we are spotlighting one of our expert panelists for this year’s e-conference, Fried Frank’s Karen Grisez.
Karen T. Grisez is a member of the Litigation Department and is resident in Fried Frank’s Washington, DC office. In her role as Public Service Counsel, Ms. Grisez manages the intake and placement of pro bono matters, acts as liaison to national and local bar associations and legal services providers and provides substantive advice and assistance to other attorneys who are working on pro bono cases. She has experience with issues of political asylum and other immigration matters, veterans’ benefits, family law, landlord/tenant law and general civil litigation.
Karen Grisez celebrates National Pro Bono Week all year long in her role as Public Service Counsel for the law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson. The upcoming celebration (October 25 – 31) and the Immigration Advocates e-Conference (November 2 – 6) provide an opportunity to recognize those in our community who approach pro bono in traditional and nontraditional ways. In addition to managing a pro bono caseload, Karen engages in advocacy and education to support access to justice. In this capacity, she regularly joins the Immigration Advocates Network as an expert panelist.
Karen started at Fried Frank in part because of its strong pro bono program. She worked as a Litigation Associate for six years, when Fried Frank agreed to her proposal to create a full time Public Service Counsel position. Today, her colleagues benefit from Karen’s training and supervision on pro bono projects and her extensive advocacy experience. In addition, Karen mentors the wider community of pro bono and nonprofit lawyers in the American Bar Association, American Immigration Lawyers Association, and Immigration Advocates Network.
During the first week of November Karen joins the Immigration Advocates Network e-Conference, on the panel of “Improving Your Appeal to the BIA.” According to Karen, webinars are “a highly efficient way of introducing a lot of lawyers to this practice area and getting them to volunteer for cases.” She notes that “an unrepresented respondent, almost always very limited in English and lacking legal training, sometimes also with the impediments that go with being detained, has virtually no chance of writing an adequate brief to the Board on appeal.”
We hope that you will join Karen and the Immigration Advocates Network for Celebrate Pro Bono Week by signing up for an e-Conference session. Your support helps us provide free resources to pro bono attorneys at the Pro Bono Resource Center.
Fried Frank has a genuine commitment to pro bono work and a strong sense of philanthropic responsibility. Illustrated not by our words but by our work, we go well beyond the base requirements to develop and nurture strong ties with our local communities.
The Immigration Advocates Network (IAN) is excited to announce its fourth annual e-conference fundraiser, “Cutting Edge Issues in Immigration Law,” from November 2 to November 6, 2015. Join us for a week-long series of interactive online trainings with national experts on BIA Appeals, U Visas & VAWA, entry & admission, prosecutorial discretion, and working with clients who have diminished capacity. We explore the issues through the lens of current events and the latest legal developments.
E-Conference Features
- Listen to nationally-recognized experts from the comfort of your own office;
- Participate in “ask the expert” sessions during each interactive training;
- Access presentations and handouts before the training session;
- Take interactive quizzes and polls before and during conference sessions; and
- Obtain exclusive access to recorded trainings after the conference.
To Register:
The cost of each two-hour training session is $25. Your support helps IAN offer free trainings and resources throughout the year. For more information and to register, visit http://www.immigrationadvocates.org/econference.