Holland & Knight has agreed to represent the refugees on our List in their resettlement requests pro bono.  They have been assigned the case-load of Iraqis who have already fled to neighboring countries (and are therefore technically considered 'refugees').  This case-load represents approximately 65% of the Iraqis on the List, with refugees scattered across the region in Syria, Jordan, U.A.E., Egypt, Lebanon, and other countries.  Over 50 attorneys in the firm have already dedicated  thousands of pro bono hours in counseling hundreds of Iraqis who are working their way through the complicated, multi-step application process. 

Background on Holland & Knight LLP:

Holland & Knight is nationally known for its commitment to pro bono work. In 1990, the firm established its Community Services Team (CST) to more effectively marshal its resources to provide legal representation to those who cannot afford it.  The CST is a structured, institutionalized department within the firm, drawing on all of the firm's resources and is the largest law firm full-time pro bono practice group in the nation.  Public Counsel, the largest pro bono organization in the world, awarded Holland & Knight its prestigious 2007 Law Firm Pro Bono Award.  This award is presented annually to a law firm or corporate legal department for leadership and advocacy on behalf of those who are indigent, vulnerable and victimized.  Last year, the American Bar Association Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities awarded its second Pro Bono Service Award to Holland & Knight for supporting the section's mission of securing and protecting human rights, civil liberties and social justice by providing countless hours of legal service.

The CST lawyers and Smith Fellows concentrate their efforts on cases with significant issues affecting large numbers of people. They are frequently assisted by other lawyers throughout the firm. This institutionalized commitment to pro bono work has produced significant results. Holland & Knight has represented thousands of people with legal problems who otherwise would have been denied access to the legal system. Some of the clients in our major cases include:

• - Dependent and delinquent children who need but are not receiving mental health services.
• - African-American survivors of Rosewood a town destroyed in 1923 by white neighbors.
• Thousands of African-American would-be renters denied housing in a decade long scheme.
• - Low-income pregnant women who were unwitting subjects of medical experimentation.
• - Prisoners with HIV/AIDS in Alabama facing life-threatening conditions and treatment.
• - Death row inmates experiencing deplorable conditions of confinement in Mississippi.
• - Mohammed Al Rehaief, an American hero who, with his family, helped save POW Jessica Lynch in Iraq.
• - Malik Jarno, a mentally retarded teenage orphan from Guinea, in his civil rights and asylum claims.