About the Center

Our Volunteers

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Firm locations:  Albany, Palo Alto, Sacramento, Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC, and Orange County.

Website:  http://www.manatt.com/

Pro Bono Team:  Michael Barkow, Kathleen Benway, Jordan Bromley, Araceli Campos, Ileana Hernandez, Ryan Hilbert, Lisa Horwitz, Jeff Lokey, Armen Martin, Pam Merkadeau, Dave Moran, Yoanna Silvera, S. Nancy Whang, Monica Youn, Salomon Zavala, and Cristin Zeisler.

About Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Since its founding in 1965, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP (“Manatt”) has grown to include 300 attorneys working in seven offices nationwide. For more than forty years, Manatt professionals have served their communities through charitable, civic and pro bono efforts. In March 2005, the firm hired Cristin Zeisler as its first full-time manager of pro bono and community service projects.  
 
Manatt’s approach to its pro bono program as a firm and as a community of professionals is to promote the ability of all citizens to have access to the legal system. Manatt professionals and staff are actively involved in the Firm’s pro bono representations, devoting significant time and resources each year to not-for-profit organizations and individuals unable to pay legal fees. 

Two Siblings from El Salvador

In the six months since Manatt began partnering with the National Center for Refugee and Immigrant Children, its team has taken on an incredible number of pro bono child clients, and its pro bono team now represents 16 immigrant children out of its Los Angeles, Palo Alto, Washington, D.C., and New York offices.

In order to escape the increasing violence by the gang Mara-18 in El Salvador “Erma,” now 18 and her younger brother “Arnaldo,” now 16, fled to the United States in fall 2005. While Arnaldo was living in El Salvador, members of Mara 18 attacked him with a knife and sent him several death threats for refusing to join. Members of the gang threatened Erma with a gun on her way to school and sexually assaulted her. Believing that their mother was supporting a rival gang by allowing them to eat at her restaurant, Mara 18 attacked her restaurant by throwing a grenade into it. She feared that her children would become the next murder or rape victims of Mara 18. Arnaldo and Erma decided to leave El Salvador and to seek out their grandmother in the United States.

“As a lawyer, you regard the law as a fairly systematic and secular process. One of the first things my clients told me was that getting an attorney meant that God had answered their prayers. It was meaningful to me to know that they regard their assignment of a pro bono attorney less as the product of mechanical legal process and more as a sign of universal intervention. It felt great to fulfill that hope for them, and it gave me a sense of just how significant pro bono work is to the lives of so many.”

—Araceli Campos, Associate
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips

Upon their arrival, however, border authorities detained them, placed them in detention, and initiated court proceedings. Soon thereafter, they sought pro bono services from the Center whose staff introduced them to Ileana Hernandez, a specialist in complex commercial litigation, and Yoanna Silvera, a litigation associate, in Manatt’s Los Angeles office. When asked about what drew her to volunteer with the Center she said: “as the daughter of two immigrants from Honduras, I feel compelled to provide pro bono assistance to individuals who seek the same opportunities that my parents sought when they first arrived in this country.” Ms. Hernandez said she feels inspired in her work representing immigrants, who deeply appreciate the rights and opportunities that are available in this country.

With Ms. Hernandez and Ms. Silvera’s guidance, the sibling pair sought asylum and as of March 2006 are awaiting their hearing before the immigration court. Ms Hernandez and Ms. Silvera speak with Erma and Arnaldo weekly. When asked what surprised her most about the cases Ms Hernandez received from the Center she stated “with an asylum case, you realize that there is more at stake and that the outcome of this type of case will change your client’s life completely.”

Escaping Persecution in Guatemala

In early 2005 while she was living in Guatemala, “Carmen” and her best friend were walking home from school when a group of men attacked them. Carmen was able to escape, but her best friend did not. Days later her friend’s raped and mutilated body was found with the markings typically left by these groups. After Carmen fled the attackers, she received death threats. Later the men threatened her again when she was walking with a group of peers. She heard someone yell that they were coming after her as soon as she was alone. Traumatized and distraught she left Guatemala with only the clothes on her back. When she is reminded of the attack and her best friend’s murder, she shakes with fear and sadness.

Carmen decided she could not remain in Guatemala and came to the United States. After she was detained, she sought legal assistance and the Center matched her with Manatt Associate, Araceli Campos, who has represented other immigrants in asylum cases. Ms. Campos says she is privileged to have a law degree and feels compelled to use it “to make a global impact.” Ms. Campos is seeking asylum for Carmen based on her membership to a class of similarly situated young girls who are routinely kidnapped and murdered by roving groups of men. Local law enforcement and government officials provide no protection and even ignore reports of the attacker’s activities.

“When I work on an asylum case,” Ms. Campos said, “the political climate of far-off places becomes important not only to my client’s case but to my life as well.” Through her work representing immigrants pro bono, Ms. Campos found that the outcome of a case affects many beyond her clients, including their families back in their home who are deeply vested in the outcome of the case.