Pro Bono Public Policy Champions Increase Tahirih’s Impact
Many of you are aware that our Pro Bono Attorney Network—with over 600 attorneys—provides a vital boost to Tahirih’s direct legal services capacity, enabling us to represent many more clients than we could with in-house resources alone.
What you may not realize is that a growing number of “lesser sung” heroes donate their time to support Tahirih’s public policy advocacy as well, greatly amplifying our efforts to bring about systemic changes to better protect women and girls from violence.
Tahirih relies on our public policy champions to assist with a wide range of projects, which may require anything from an intense quick turnaround to a sustained long-haul commitment. Many are practicing attorneys at law firms already representing clients as part of our Pro Bono Attorney Network, but in addition, government-relations and communications professionals, as well as other kinds of seasoned advisors, are regularly tapped to enhance Tahirih’s advocacy capacity and expertise.
These wide-ranging and far-reaching contributions include:
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Impact litigation:
Tahirih has had a number of opportunities through civil litigation to advance an entire cause, not just an individual client’s case. Over the course of our Campaign to End Exploitation by International Marriage Brokers, we received over $3 million in donated professional services and expenses from the law firm of Arnold & Porter LLP. This enabled Tahirih, among other things, to bring a landmark civil suit—the first of its kind in the country—against a Maryland-based marriage broker for its role in pairing one of our clients with a violent husband. Arnold & Porter, together with the law firm of Jones Day, also enabled Tahirih to successfully defend the constitutionality of a new federal law (that we helped enact to better protect foreign brides) against two lawsuits brought by marriage brokers resisting regulation. Most recently, as highlighted above in “Fighting to Protect Gender-Based Asylum,” Arnold & Porter again stepped forward to dedicate several attorneys and hundreds of hours to help Tahirih submit an amicus brief in a gender-based asylum case pending before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. This important case will help set precedent regarding the protection available to women who have been subjected to female genital mutilation.
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Strategic assistance:
Law firms in our Pro Bono Attorney Network, including Arnold & Porter and Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, have contributed the expertise of their government-relations practices to help design and inform our advocacy initiatives. We have also been able to call on extensive pro bono assistance from professionals at a number of the top lobbying firms in the country, such as Quinn Gillespie & Associates LLC and Van Scoyoc Associates, Inc.—to help us strategize and advocate on our behalf or to open doors for us to key legislative offices. Lobbyists from some of Tahirih’s corporate donors, such as Chevron, Altria, Goldman Sachs & Co., and Ford have also provided invaluable advice.
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Complex research and analysis:
The Atlanta office of Jones Day is making a standout contribution by engaging nearly all of its 16 summer associates on Tahirih projects. One research team is outlining state-law counterparts to reinforce federal regulations of the international marriage broker industry, and the other is exploring possible policy prescriptions to improve the United States’ protection of young immigrant women from forced marriage. Over the last year, substantial research has also been contributed by Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP (forced marriage; impact of new federal standards on clients’ access to government-issued IDs and government facilities); Sidley Austin LLP (women’s access to court for protective orders in Virginia, regardless of legal status); Hogan & Hartson LLP (federal pre-emption issues and relationship to proposed Virginia bill prohibiting inquiry into immigration status of crime victims); and Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, PC (history of legislative protections for men and women fleeing forced sterilizations or abortions, by contrast to protections for women fleeing forced female genital mutilation).
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Public education and outreach:
A number of firms have generously donated the use of facilities to Tahirih for coalition meetings or outreach events, or provided financial support to cover costs. Most recently, pro bono partners Akin Gump; Arnold & Porter; DLA Piper; Estée Lauder Companies Inc; Goldman Sachs & Co.; Lifetime Television; Paul Hastings; and American University Washington College of Law co-sponsored Tahirih’s Congressional Briefing on Gender-Based Asylum.
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Media advice:
Specialists Amanda Deaver (Prism Public Affairs), Mike Mihalke, and David Henderson have provided Tahirih with numerous strategic communications insights, including helping Tahirih staff prepare for national media interviews and reviewing press releases and letters to the editor.
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Compliance counseling:
Patton Boggs is providing Tahirih with standing access to the expertise of a compliance counsel to advise us on the intricate House and Senate ethics rules and on the recording and reporting obligations flowing from our engagement in lobbying activities.
These are just some of the ways in which our private sector allies have enabled us to leverage our limited in-house advocacy resources. In fact, Tahirih is in the process of developing a Public Policy Advisory Council to formalize some of these instrumental partnerships. If you are interested in getting more involved with Tahirih’s public policy advocacy, please email policy@tahirih.org.
