Our Law Firm Partners (Past and Present)

Steptoe & Johnson LLP funded the two-year fellowship of staff attorney Lynsay Gott inpartnership with the Equal Justice Works Fellowship program. They also continue to generously support our critical mission goals.

Arnold & Porter LLP provided hundreds of hours of pro bono assistance in the discovery phase of the Ahmed Abu Ali case. This precedent-setting ruling assured that terror suspects, even if held outside of the U.S. by foreign governments, can use habeas corpus petitions in U.S. courts to challenge their detention.

Covington & Burling LLP generously provided pro bono research and other resources that are essential to the functioning and continuation of Human Rights USA’s groundbreaking work. They have also assisted in several of our asylum cases.

Crowell & Moring was our co-counsel in a case that centered around the rights of non-citizens to have a fair chance to present their cases against deportation to persecution. 

We placed a refugee case with an attorney at Dykema, and assisted him with the case

Hogan & Hartson LLP assisted our work opposing the juvenile death penalty, eventually leading to the Supreme Court’s seminal decision in Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005). Hogan & Hartson also provided essential pro bono assistance in several of our gender-based asylum and female genital mutilation refugee cases.

Roger Myers, of Holme Roberts & Owen LLP, served as co-counsel with Human Rights USA in our groundbreaking lawsuit against Yahoo! Inc. See Gao Qinsheng mother of one of our plaintiffs in the Yahoo! case, Shi Tao, below.

Jenner & Block worked with Human Rights USA in one of our major FGM cases and continues to support our groundbreaking work. More recently, Jenner & Block worked with us to prevent deportation to a Cameroonian national. For her work on the case, Lindsay Harrison, the lead attorney from Jenner & Block, was honored  by the National Law Journal with a 2009 pro bono award.

K&L Gates generously provided financial resources that were essential to the functioning and continuation of Human Rights USA’s groundbreaking work.

Vlad Kuzmin, Esq., sought our assistance in us in securing asylum for an Albanian refugee fleeing trafficking.  The case is still pending.

Thomas V. Massucci, Esq. worked co-counsel with us in securing asylum for an Albanian women seeking refuge from trafficking.

Milbank worked closely with Human Rights USA on a major case protecting our client from female genital mutilation.

Miriam Porter, an attorney in San Francisco, was co-counsel on a major case protecting our client from forced marriage female genital mutilation.

Shearman & Sterling LLP generously assisted us with a case core to our mission.

Human Rights USA provided Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP with assistance on a refugee rights case and several asylum cases.

Human Rights USA provided Weil Gotshal with assistance on rendition to torture and the transfer issues associated with their Guantanamo Bay detainee case.

WilmerHale worked with Human Rights USA on some of its earliest female genital mutilation cases (FGM).

Our Non-Profit Partners (Past and Present)

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) now serves as lead counsel in Sameh Khouzam’s fight against diplomatic assurances. Human Rights USA continues to serve as co-counsel. Human Rights USA again partnered with the ACLU on our petition to the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, regarding accountability for major human rights abuses committed by U.S. government officials during the War on Terror. (see Sameh and his mother, left). The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) works with Human Rights USA on a variety of anti-terrorism and rendition-to-torture issues. We partnered with CCR on our petition to the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, regarding accountability for major human rights abuses committed by U.S. government officials during the War on Terror. The Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) and Human Rights USA worked together on a project to hold human rights violators accountable for their acts.

The Center for Security and Development Studies (CSDS) served as an on-the-ground contact for us in Liberia during the Chuckie Taylor trial, and provided us with background information on the conflict and on Liberian culture generally. Alaric Tokpa, CSDS executive director, helped coordinate our efforts in Liberia.

EarthRights International partnered with Human Rights USA as amicus in the groundbreaking criminal prosecution against Chuckie Taylor.

Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) provided research support for our Yahoo! corporate accountability case.

Polaris Project supported us in two of our anti-trafficking and asylum training workshops

Sanctuary For Famillies , and Ayuda both helped with one of our anti-trafficking and asylum training workshops.

Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontieres) provided important research support for our Yahoo! case and continues to work with us on our internet freedom projects.

The Tahirih Justice Center, one of our longest-serving partners, works with us in many of our gender-based refugee cases. They also assisted in organizing one of our anti-trafficking and asylum training workshops.

The Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC) is a close partner in a number of anti-torture initiatives, including our involvement as amicus in the Chuckie Taylor case.

Since our founding, Human Rights USA has been a member of the World Organization Against Torture International Network (Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture or OMCT). It is a connection that is vital to our mission.

Partner Law School Clinics and Programs

Members of New York University (NYU) Law Students for Human Rights (LSHR)organization have made major contributions our work on Human Rights& Anti-Terrorism, Accountability for Torture, and Corporate Accountability.

Human Rights USA and University of Texas at Austin School of Law, National Security and Human Rights Clinic, led by Derek Jinks, Elizabeth Hardy, and Kristine Huskey, collaborated on a model brief which examines the myriad legal issues presented by transfers to torture. It was published in the February 2009 inaugural edition of the Northeastern University Law Journal (pdf).

Students from the Yale Law School Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights, Lowenstein Project have helped draft amicus briefs for submission in key cases challenging the suspension of habeas corpus for Guantanamo detainees, and have also assisted in our Accountability for Torture work and with our Yahoo! case. The Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic, run by Professor Jim Silk, also contributed to some of our most important cases.

Our In-Kind Partners (Past and Present)

Rona Leff and the Letelier Theater allowed us to use their beautiful theater and reception space for our April 20th 2009 screening of Pray the Devil Back to Hell.

Expanding Thought® has provided us with valuable consulting services.

Our Community Volunteers and Volunteer Attorneys 

 Human Rights USA deeply appreciates the support of community members, including individual attorneys, who generously volunteer their time to support our work, including:

Jessica Dickinson Goodman, whose summer 2009 internship greatly improved our online presence, including renovations to this website, and the creation of our facebook  and youtube  pages.

Roberta Kleekpo, who  helped coordinate two of our screenings of Pray the Devil Back to Hell in the spring and summer of 2009.

Elaine Tassinari, who began as intern in 2008 and continuted to provide us legal research assistance on a volunteer basis through the spring and summer of 2009.

Karen Agresti, who continues to provide legal research assistance on a volunteer basis.