Big Law & Immigration

More than a few years ago, fresh out of law school, studying for the bar, and about to embark on my first clerkship, I worked as a summer associate at Paul Weiss in NYC.

And so it was with more than my usual interest that I read the NYT’s coverage of the pro bono work being done by Paul Weiss in the area of immigration. I learned that the firm has been working on the issue of family reunification – trying to find parents who were separated from their children at the border and deported, leaving their children behind in the United States.

It turns out that many big law firms are working in immigration. (The firm I actually spent a few years at – Munger, Tolles & Olson in LA – among them!)

The NYT spills a large amount of ink on the fact that this work puts the law firms in opposition to the president, which comports with the understanding that law firms are left-leaning institutions.

But what I found most interesting was this bit buried in the middle: Law firms don’t want to take on pro bono work that would “jeopardize [their] corporate client[s],” but “[i]mmigration does not generally present such conflicts.” I never thought about that, but it’s an obvious point. I’m sure it’s also a point that immigration-focused organizations, looking for force multipliers in big law, are doing a great job of highlighting.

-KitJ