DALLAS, TX—International law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP won the prestigious Angel of Freedom Award from the Human Rights Initiative of North Texas (HRI), which provides legal and critical social services for immigrant survivors of human rights abuses from all over the world.
Weil received the award at HRI’s Stories from the HeART event on Friday, December 2 at The Pittman Hotel. HRI honors a law firm, individual, rising star and community partner each year for their pro bono contributions.
HRI, a Dallas-based nonprofit, served 578 clients this fiscal year with the help of 288 pro bono attorneys and 79 non-attorney volunteers, who collectively donated over 7,529 hours, valued at approximately $3 million.
Weil worked more than 870 hours on various asylum matters for HRI this last fiscal year. Weil’s work included helping a woman from the Democratic Republic of the Congo obtain asylum in the United States. The former magistrate fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo after she was kidnapped, beaten, assaulted and tortured by the Congolese secret service because she refused to obey orders to falsely charge innocent citizens with crimes that would have resulted in their imprisonment or death.
Partner Vynessa Nemunaitis supervised the case. The Weil team also included Erin Marie Choi, Megan Elizabeth Cloud, Kevin Michael Simmons, Brendan C. Conley, Libby Vinson, Amanda DeMasi and Angela del Carmen Estrada.
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