National Pro Bono Week 2021
Every October, NMILC and other legal organizations across the country participate in a week-long national celebration highlighting pro bonos and their work to draw attention to the continuous need for more pro bono participation. This year we highlighted 9 amazing pro bono professionals that donate their time and experience to NMILC and our mission to advance justice and equity though free legal services and resources for low-income immigrant communities living in New Mexico. We decided to highlight pro bono professionals from our different programs and teams to show the range of variety in pro bono opportunities. NMILC is grateful to work with such a talented, experienced, and diverse team of pro bono professionals. Click here to learn more about our award-winning pro bono team and their important work.
Jazmin Irazoqui-Ruiz - Attorney
Economic Justice Program
“Pro bono attorneys increase access for populations that do not have the financial means to hire an attorney. When we volunteer for community organizations the community trusts, we increase capacity for an organization that already has a strong relationship with community members.”
Bridget Mullin - Attorney
SIJS Program
“Covid has shown us how interconnected our world is, both in our need to take care of each other and our need for community to provide that care. As a pro bono attorney with NMILC, I am honored to be one part of that community, providing legal expertise during difficult periods in people’s lives. Legal support within a community of care can truly improve a family’s outlook, and that’s why I’m so grateful to work with the people of NMILC. As a family law lawyer, I look forward to meeting more special immigrant juvenile clients and their families.”
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Dominic Martinez - Attorney
SIJS/DACA Programs
“I chose to volunteer my time to work on pro bono matters with NMILC because I wanted to lend support to our immigrant community. Working with NMILC made me realize that even lawyers without subject-matter expertise can be immensely impactful, and they can provide valuable legal services that might otherwise be cost-prohibitive. I plan to continue pursuing rewarding pro bono matters with NMILC, and I feel grateful and privileged to have the opportunity to do so. “
Ruth Warner - Interpreter
Survivor Advancement Team
“The immigrant community faces enormous challenges in the United States because of unjust policies and systemic racism. This has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has deepened the gaps of inequity domestically and around the world. I am happy to support the work of NMILC as a volunteer interpreter as a concrete way of lending a hand.”
Dr. Wanni Zhou - Psychologist
Survivor Advancement Program
“My work with NMILC involves providing psychological evaluations to support immigration cases. These evaluations often pose a significant financial barrier, on top of healthcare and legal systems that are challenging to navigate. I feel strongly that immigrants belong in our communities and make them stronger. By providing these services, I hope to facilitate their pathway to citizenship.”
Dr. Eleanor Emery - Physician
Survivor Advancement Program
"The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the interconnectedness of the health of our global community and our planet. The longer we ignore these connections and continue to abide by policies that reflect nationalist fallacies, the more ill-prepared we will be for the next global challenge, whether it be another pandemic or the ongoing impacts of climate change. Working with NMILC gives me an opportunity to acknowledge our common humanity by serving and learning from members of our immigrant community and teaching others to do the same."
Peter Katel - Interpreter
Survivor Advancement Program
"Interpreting for immigrants upholds a family tradition. My multilingual parents, themselves - like their own parents - refugees several times over, worked on getting people out of France 1940-42, following the surrender to Nazi Germany.
After the war, they returned to Europe to help get U.S. visas for Holocaust survivors. Later on, my mother worked for the International Rescue Committee and volunteered with a Haitian human rights organization. Interpreters play a vital role in allowing refugees and other immigrants to communicate fully with government officials, often on life-and-death matters."
Spencer Edelman - Attorney
SIJS/DACA Program
“As attorneys we have a duty to uphold principles of justice for all and that includes justice for our immigrant community. NMILC has made it possible for me to volunteer my time to help to make a direct impact on individuals in the immigrant community and bring them from the margins into the mainstream. By joining the NMILC’s pro bono projects, my individual time spent with individual immigrants and their children is combined with others to provide a boost to the immigrant community and, by extension, society as a whole. Being part of that collective effort motivates me to continue to volunteer.”
Dr. Hope Ferdowsian - Physician
Survivor Advancement Program
“Our new reality offers many opportunities to rethink our relationships with each other and to answer the call to help others in ways that are meaningful and impactful. Those efforts often start with listening and learning, as we regularly have the opportunity to do together through the One Hope Asylum Medicine Clinic.”