Cleary Gottlieb: Sanctuary Pro Bono Partner Spotlight

Sanctuary for Families

A spotlight on Sanctuary Pro Bono Partner Cleary Gottlieb for their team’s outstanding work in helping reunite a family separated by abuse.

Sanctuary for Families’ Pro Bono Project has the honor of working with hundreds of extremely dedicated and expert pro bono attorneys per year. As part of our new Pro Bono Spotlight, we’ll be highlighting some of the great work done by Sanctuary pro bono attorneys!

*Please note that this blog contains descriptions of physical and sexual abuse that could be triggering*

Cleary Gottlieb Team Headed by Ludivine van der Heyden Provides Support in Complex Family Reunification Case 

We are thrilled to highlight the outstanding advocacy by the law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, and in particular the dedication demonstrated by Pro Bono Immigration Attorney Ludivine Van der Heyden, in a family reunification case that reunited a Senegalese mother with her two daughters against all odds.

Over the course of months and years, Cleary Pro Bono Immigration Attorney Ludivine Van der Heyden, along with Sanctuary Senior Staff Attorney Ines Chennoufi, Family Reunification Coordinator Karine Jeannet, and Senior Immigration Specialist Carolien Hardenbol, were able at long last to reunite Sanctuary’s Senegalese client, Ms. T, with her daughters.

Sanctuary’s client, Ms. T, had been forced to flee Senegal in 2019 after experiencing severe abuse at the hands of her former husband. Despite Ms. T having received a divorce order and full custody of the children, Ms. T’s abuser continued to track her across the country, threatening to kill her and vowing to subject their two daughters to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Given the imminent danger of her situation, Ms. T was forced to flee without her daughters, and she left them both in secure hiding places with the intention of quickly bringing them into the United States. Ultimately, with Ludivine’s representation, Ms. T’s case was expedited, she was able to prove that her life would be in grave risk were she forced to return to Senegal, and she was granted asylum in June 2021. Her asylee status provided a pathway for her daughters to claim the same immigration status as her derivatives. However, this would prove to be far from the end of the family’s legal troubles, as agency delays exacerbated by COVID-19 made the process of bringing the daughters over extremely lengthy.

Around February 2022, given the imminent danger of FGM and forced marriage to both daughters, Ines Chennoufi requested assistance from Senator Gillibrand’s Office to pressure USCIS to quickly adjudicate the daughters’ cases. The danger escalated when, in April 2022, the father located and unsuccessfully attempted to kidnap the younger daughter, Amy*, on her way home from school. In light of that kidnapping attempt and in fear of a second attempt, Ines once again reached out to Senator Gillibrand’s Office, and in a matter of weeks, USCIS approved the daughters’ applications to join their mother in the U.S. This critical approval resulted in the case being transferred to the National Visa Center before the case file reaches the Consulate Post in the home country, in this case in Dakar, Senegal.

What followed would be several more months of legal advocacy around nearly every stage of the cases’ transfer: advocacy to USCIS to swiftly transfer the cases to the National Visa Center and on to the consular post; advocacy to Senator Gillibrand’s office to push the Dakar Embassy to expedite processing (a request which was inexplicably denied by the Dakar Embassy); and multiple calls, emails, and unsuccessful visits to the Embassy from September through February in an attempt to schedule a visa interview for the two daughters. Despite the Visa Appointment Portal allegedly being open, there were no appointments available for over five months.

At this juncture, in January 2023, given the complete lack of action on the part of the Embassy, Ludivine, Ines, Carolien, and Karine knew that filing a federal mandamus complaint was the only option remaining to get an interview for the daughters scheduled. Such a complaint can be used to compel an agency, such as the Department of Homeland Security, to adjudicate a case when the client has a right to relief and there is no other remedy available. The complaint drafted by Cleary Gottlieb expertly laid out DHS’ duty to schedule interviews for Amy* and Maimouna*, her sister; the harm to Ms. T caused by this lengthy and arduous legal battle; and the current threat posed to the girls.

Ludivine reached out to the government’s counsel with a draft complaint in mid-March to start negotiations before filing the complaint. Two weeks after the initial contact, likely due to the strength of the arguments in the mandamus brief, the interviews were finally scheduled.

Things moved quickly after that—on April 19 Amy* and Maimouna* were granted their visas. Karine immediately got to work connecting the daughters with resources, including furniture for their home, an intensive English course, medical care, and housing. The daughters were joyfully reunited with their mother at the airport in New York on May 7, 2023.

We sat down with Ludivine to hear a bit more about her experience.

Why do you do pro bono work?

Pro bono work is a passion of mine and one of the reasons why I became a lawyer. The proximity with the clients, sharing their stories, learning about their cultures, speaking in different languages, all of that is something I really enjoy, especially coming from an international background.

What made you want to take on Ms. T’s case?

I developed the relationship with Ms. T when I was a senior staff attorney at Sanctuary. At the time, l worked hard to expedite her asylum interview during COVID at the asylum office. When I returned to Cleary, I continued my relationship with her as a pro bono working on her green card application. Around that same time, Sanctuary reached out saying, Ms. T has this issue with her girls – do you think you could help? And we said yes – we (at Cleary) have experience in Federal Court, I’m admitted to SDNY and EDNY, and we as a firm have connections with other organizations that specialize in litigating immigration courses in federal court. Through our network, we immediately were able to reach out to National Immigration Litigation Alliance (NILA), who provided a training on how to challenge agency delays. This was really key support – this was Cleary’s first mandamus case associated with derivative asylees, and we only had a few weeks to do this. We immediately started preparing a draft mandamus complaint. We worked with Sanctuary to gather the facts, and Cleary focused on the legal argument. It was a great collaboration between the nonprofit and private sector, where we were all contributing our expertise to support this survivor and her family.

What was your experience working with Ms. T like? How would you describe her?

She’s a remarkable client – really warm and smart, and she has the best smile in the world. She moved me as a mother fighting so hard for her daughters since the very beginning, and trying so hard to keep them safe. She’s also extremely determined and resourceful – very well-organized. Anyone who works with her becomes invested in her case.

What was the most challenging part of this process?

The unknown – not knowing if this was going to actually work or not. We had put in a lot of efforts into the complaint and had to manage the client’s expectations as well.

Which moment was the most impactful for you?

Probably meeting with the girls in New York. But every step of the way really, hearing that they had been able to board the plane successfully, telling the client that the interview had been scheduled and hearing her reaction… there were a lot of good moments. What made this case special was the continued relationship with Ms. T. We were following this family’s life and trying to make sure that they would get the best start in the U.S.

We are so grateful to the Cleary Gottlieb team for all of their advocacy and their assistance in drafting this mandamus complaint, which pushed DHS into action at long last, and we are in awe of the dedication and legal acumen demonstrated by Ludivine in her tireless work to help Ms. T seek safety and stability and to reunite this family.

Join the Cleary Gottlieb team in standing with our clients. Your gift supports Sanctuary’s life-saving work with survivors of gender violence.

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Cleary Gottlieb: Sanctuary Pro Bono Partner Spotlight

Romy Felsen-Parsons

Sanctuary teamed up with Cleary Gottlieb to submit an amicus brief highlighting how Florida’s proposed 15-week abortion ban would disproportionately endanger survivors of intimate partner violence.

Sanctuary for Families’ Pro Bono Project has the honor of working with hundreds of extremely dedicated and expert pro bono attorneys per year. As part of our new Pro Bono Spotlight, we’ll be highlighting some of the great work done by Sanctuary pro bono attorneys!

*Please note that this blog contains descriptions of physical and sexual abuse that could be triggering*

Florida’s House Bill 5 (HB 5) is the latest in a string of proposed state laws restricting access to safe abortions and reproductive care. This controversial bill, which proposes a ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, is currently before the Florida Supreme Court—the highest state court in Florida— in the case of Planned Parenthood Southwest and Central Florida v. Florida. This law, like any law curtailing reproductive rights, gives abusers another powerful tool by which to control their victims. Sanctuary’s Reproductive Rights Working Group, co-chaired by Sanctuary attorneys Anne Glatz and Luba Reife, recently teamed up with Cleary Gottlieb to submit an amicus brief highlighting the danger this proposed ban would disproportionately pose to survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV). We reached out to authors Jennifer Kennedy Park, Sarah Gutman, Lilianna Rembar, and Caroline Soussloff—all of whom are Floridian or have Floridian family members themselves—to learn what participating in this project meant to them.

Partner Jennifer Kennedy Park explained, “I was raised in Florida and still have family living there so I was horrified at the passage of HB5.  … Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, we’ve seen the terrible impact of the reversal of Roe v. Wade.  As we feared, states are passing increasingly restrictive and dangerous bans on abortion—with no regard for women’s lives, health or autonomy. I personally, along with thousands of other law firm partners, committed to fighting for reproductive freedom in a call to action in the American Lawyer that, to date, more than 2,650 women partners from nearly 200 law firms have signed on. This brief is part of that commitment.” Associate Sarah Gutman added, “Abortion bans like Florida’s HB5 harm all people, but the devastating consequences will fall heaviest on those who are already the most marginalized. That’s why it’s so important for all of us—including law firms—to work to protect and expand access to abortion. It can literally be a lifesaver.”

While clear logical links exist to suggest that pregnant people in abusive relationships will be disproportionately impacted by such legislation – for example, the fact that many abusers attempt to restrict their partner’s birth control options as a means of imposing control and restricting their bodily autonomy – the statistics nonetheless are truly staggering. Women who have experienced IPV are nearly three times more likely to report that their partner made it difficult to use birth control, increasing the risk of an unwanted pregnancy. Sarah Gutman noted, “I was particularly glad that [the amicus brief] highlights the links between gender-based violence (GBV) and denial of abortion access.  Abortion bans and GBV are different sides of the same coin—both are attacks on bodily autonomy.  They create barriers to full social, economic, and political equality regardless of gender.” As the amicus brief explains, in addition to facing universal barriers to care, such as financial restrictions, etc., pregnant victims of IPV are frequently subjected to harassment, surveillance, intimidation, or interference by their abusive partners while attempting to access reproductive health services. Research also shows that pregnant people subjected to GBV are more likely to seek abortion or prenatal services later into their pregnancy than others. Given that most people do not know that they are pregnant until six or seven weeks into the pregnancy, a ban at 15 weeks would force a survivor of IPV to consider their options and make all necessary arrangements to overcome these challenges in a very short period of time. Associate Lilianna Rembar adds, “Forcing pregnant Floridians to carry unwanted pregnancies to term, the 15-week ban will especially harm victims of gender-based violence who face physical, psychological, and financial adversities, along with other barriers to obtaining abortions.”

“Forcing pregnant Floridians to carry unwanted pregnancies to term, the 15-week ban will especially harm victims of gender-based violence who face physical, psychological, and financial adversities, along with other barriers to obtaining abortions.”

-Lilianna Rembar, Associate

Due to sexual violence or reproductive coercion, IPV increases the risk of unplanned and unwanted pregnancies, which in turn increase the risk and severity of IPV. Resulting pregnancies from these abusive relationships threaten to create lifelong legal ties tethering the victim to their abuser and are often used as tools of control themselves. Additionally, pregnancy places victims of IPV at severely heightened risk of an escalation of physical violence: Femicide is the leading cause of death for pregnant and post-partum women in the United States, which has the highest maternal mortality rate among high-income countries. Pregnant and postpartum women in the United States are more than twice as likely to die by homicide than by any other cause. Associate Caroline Soussloff reflected, “I was galvanized to learn that the leading cause of death in pregnant women in the United States is homicide—I hope that Florida’s judges and politicians will be too. I hope that fact, and the other data and stories included in our brief, will help to root their decision-making in the experiences of the one in four American women who obtain abortions.”

“The pro bono team from Cleary Gottlieb exceeded expectations at every step of the process. Faced with a very short deadline, the Cleary team immediately jumped into action and impressed us with their keen insights and erudite, nuanced grasp of the issues. The end result was a compelling and highly persuasive brief that concisely but thoroughly illustrated the impact of reproductive rights restrictions for survivors and victims of gender-based violence in general, and the impact of HB5 on Floridians subjected to GBV in particular.”

Anne Glatz
Senior Staff Attorney, Sanctuary for Families

We are incredibly grateful to Cleary Gottlieb for representing Sanctuary for Families in this advocacy. The brief, which was submitted on March 9, was signed by organizations and individuals including Legal Momentum, The National Organization for Women Foundation, The Rapid Benefits Group Fund, Women for Abortion and Reproductive Rights, Margaret A. Baldwin, JD, Professor Cyra Choudhury, Professor Donna K. Coker, Professor Zanita E. Fenton, Doctor Kathryn M. Nowotny, PhD, and Jodi Russell. We are thrilled to work in collaboration with these outstanding individuals and organizations and are committed to conducting continued advocacy from the perspective of GBV service providers as the reproductive rights landscape continues to change in dangerous ways for survivors.

Join the Cleary team in standing with our clients. Your gift supports Sanctuary’s life-saving work with survivors of gender violence.

   Make a Gift  

Cleary Associate Uses Trauma-Informed Approach in Advocating for Survivors

Romy Felsen-Parsons

At this year’s Above & Beyond Awards, Sanctuary for Families will be honoring Cleary Gottlieb associate and former Cleary Gottlieb Fellow Morton Bast for her trauma-informed advocacy in working with two survivors of domestic violence.

At this year’s Above & Beyond Awards, Sanctuary for Families will be honoring Cleary Gottlieb associate and former Cleary Gottlieb Fellow Morton Bast for her trauma-informed advocacy in working with two survivors of domestic violence. Morton worked with both clients for over a year, going so far as to take both cases with her back to Cleary Gottlieb in order to continue her legal representation from the firm.

In a previous Pro Bono Spotlight, Sanctuary for Families highlighted the work that Cleary associate Morton Bast did as a Cleary Gottlieb Fellow at Sanctuary. This groundbreaking new Fellowship placed Cleary associates full-time at legal services organizations for one full year, providing critically needed legal work to underserved communities during the pandemic while enabling Cleary Fellows to continue expanding their skill sets and pursue their specific interests. This year’s Above and Beyond Awards ceremony will honor Morton for the extensive work she did with two clients, Ms. D and Ms. O, both at Sanctuary and later at Cleary Gottlieb.

After being trained on how to approach trauma-informed, client-centered advocacy, Morton diligently and immediately set about putting these ideals into practice. Providing legal services to survivors of trauma, while extremely rewarding, of course, poses its own unique challenges, and Morton quickly learned that trauma can interfere with a person’s ability to recall details and to tell a coherent story of their experiences. One client, Ms. D, was deeply traumatized by her experiences of severe domestic violence and, as a result, extremely anxious about testifying in court – in addition to being extremely frustrated by over four years of litigation. Morton worked extensively with the client for hours at a time to gain her trust and prepare her for trial at her own pace.

“One of the major challenges of this case was that the client was not able to share her experiences in the typical structure of a direct examination, i.e. broken up into pieces in response to the attorney’s questions; she really needed to get into the zone and just deliver her story all at once. So rather than trying to force that, Morton and our team reconstructed the direct examination to allow the client to be the most comfortable telling her story on her own terms.”

Jennifer Friedman
Director of Sanctuary’s Bronx and Manhattan Legal Project

When Morton’s Fellowship at Sanctuary ended, she took Ms. D’s case with her back to Cleary Gottlieb. Ultimately, the case was settled at the eleventh hour on the morning that trial was scheduled with a highly favorable result for the client: an admission to domestic violence from the abuser and a 2-year Order of Protection, as well as consent to full legal and physical custody of the children. After this settlement, Morton stayed actively involved in the ongoing visitation case, which was also finally settled recently. Morton engaged in extensive negotiations with opposing counsel, drafted the final visitation stipulation, and was in constant communication with her client to ensure that the final visitation schedule was safe and enabled her to maintain her work schedule. Finally, after three and a half years of litigation, and Morton’s dedicated advocacy, Ms. D’s cases are resolved.

In Morton’s other major case, she drafted a motion for an extension of an Order of Protection for Ms. O, whose abuser, a convicted pedophile, was seeking visitation with their child. Morton, after leaving Sanctuary, continued on this case as well, successfully arguing the motion before the court in August and obtaining a final 2-year extension for the client.

In both the quality of her trauma-informed advocacy and her long-term dedication to her clients, Morton has truly gone above and beyond. Sanctuary is delighted to recognize Morton for her outstanding work on these cases.

Join us at our Above & Beyond Awards Ceremony on November 2, 2022, as we honor Morton and Cleary Gottlieb’s outstanding pro bono work.

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If you can’t join us, but would like to support Sanctuary’s work, please consider making an Above & Beyond donation here.

Romy Felsen-Parsons is Pro Bono Project Assistant at Sanctuary for Families.

Cleary Gottlieb Team Secures T-Visa for Immigrant Survivor of Sex Trafficking

Todd Schmid

At this year’s Above & Beyond Awards, Sanctuary is honoring a team of attorneys from Cleary Gottlieb for their compassionate and devoted pro bono assistance on behalf of their client “Alicia” in their successful application of a T nonimmigrant visa. The team consisted of Jennifer Kroman, Sharon Barbour, Jessica Dwinell, and Michael Athy-Plunkett. 

Todd Schmid is Legal Counsel at HSBC and Co-Head of HSBC’s U.S. Pro Bono Program. He is a member of Sanctuary’s Pro Bono Council.

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At this year’s Above & Beyond Awards, Sanctuary is honoring a team of attorneys from Cleary Gottlieb for their compassionate and devoted pro bono assistance on behalf of their client “Alicia” in their successful application of a T nonimmigrant visa. The team consisted of Jennifer Kroman, Sharon Barbour, Jessica Dwinell, and Michael Athy-Plunkett. 

International youth often arrive in New York City hoping, above all, to progress, to find a way forward: a good school, a secure job, stability after leaving home behind. For “Alicia”, a transgender Sanctuary for Families client whose childhood in Colombia was marked with abuse, NYC embodied opportunity. Yet their initial hopes were stolen when, at age 12, they were sold into a Queens brothel and drugged by the brothel’s keepers so adult men could engage in commercial sex with them. Alicia eventually escaped, only to find their social support network pulled out from under them. Still only a teenager, Alicia had nowhere to go but the streets.

The Port Authority, illuminated day and night by the radiant lights of nearby Times Square, is home to the busiest bus terminal in the United States. It is a permanent scene of comings and goings, of not only transience, but homelessness. Often times, LGBTQ youth engage in trading sex for basic necessities, also known as “survival sex”. This can lead to exploitation and trafficking, which is what happened in Alicia’s case.

Starting as a one-time request, youth are groomed by more frequent asks to exchange sex for money as a way to contribute financially to a relationship, with appeals to a victim’s sense of loyalty. Exploiters thus seek out particularly vulnerable youth, who are homeless or runaway; or who have poor social supports. As these vulnerable youth become further removed from their social supports over time, the traffickers gain even more control. In Alicia’s case, intense emotional trauma ran deep, and it took time to come to terms with the fact that the person who provided them with opportunities to stop  living on the streets also put them in extreme danger and exploited them.

Finding Sanctuary, Alicia’s T visa case was soon presented to Jennifer Kroman, Sharon Barbour, Jessica Dwinell, and Michael Athy-Plunkett, the Cleary Gottlieb team whose skilled legal representation and trauma-informed advocacy will be recognized at this year’s Above & Beyond event. As with many Sanctuary clients, Alicia was repeatedly arrested for prostitution-related offenses, and with a prior immigration proceeding, their representation presented challenges that might give other attorneys pause. Yet Cleary jumped at the opportunity to educate USCIS about the devastating impact left by sex trafficking. The team worked tirelessly with their client to overcome the many hurdles the case threw in their way. As the nominators of their award made clear,

“They worked with a client that had suffered extreme trauma. They also dealt with an ever-changing political climate that complicated the immigration application. In the end, they dealt with each hurdle professionally, accurately and compassionately.”

The client came to Sanctuary feeling hopeless, but, working hand in hand with Alicia every step of the way, the attorneys on the case helped Alicia achieve results that were transformative. Michael Athy-Plunkett recalls the case as “having taught him what it means to be a true advocate.” As Sharon Barbour reflects,

“Several aspects of Alicia’s case were extremely challenging, but it was extremely rewarding—not only because we had a tremendous outcome, but also because throughout this experience we gained Alicia’s trust and got to know what a strong, courageous, and resilient person they are.”

As the case progressed, the team proved their dedication by expertly replying to two difficult Requests for Evidence from USCIS because of Alicia’s prior record resulting from their victimization within a six-month period. They never lost hope on the client or the case, and four years later Alicia received T nonimmigrant status.

“I’m very fortunate to have met a team of dedicated individuals at this organization,” reflects Alicia “By connecting with a group of lawyers — wonderful human beings who have helped thousands of victims of trafficking like me and without hope, to find a better life. I lived an existence that seemed so dark but is now shining like a beacon of hope that others can see.”

Alicia’s efforts to obtain steady work were further complicated without documentation, resulting in a barrier to stability. Yet with the team’s steadfast legal representation and Alicia’s acceptance to Sanctuary’s Economic Empowerment Program during their representation, Alicia thrived, and today, Alicia has the tools needed to find long-term stability in the United States.

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Join us at our Above & Beyond celebration on November 12, 2019, at the RUMI Event Space, 229 W 28th St, New York, NY as we honor the outstanding pro bono work of Sharon, Jessica, Michael and Jennifer. You can buy tickets here. 

If you can’t join us, but would like to support Sanctuary for Family’s work, please consider making an Above & Beyond donation here.