Pro Bono Practice

Meagher Emanuel Laks Goldberg & Liao, LLP is committed to supporting access to justice in the United States. Launched in January 2019, the firm’s pro bono practice provides legal services, financial support, and volunteer time to those most in need within our communities, with an emphasis on the areas of asylum and immigration, domestic violence, criminal justice, systemic racism, trademark and copyright.

We are proud to treat our pro bono work the same as our billable work, applying an equal amount of dedication, enthusiasm, resources, and quality standards. These efforts have already led to outcomes that transformed lives, such as securing asylum and Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (“SIJS”) for unaccompanied immigrant children fleeing gang violence, persecution, parental abuse and/or abandonment. Our current projects include representing a domestic abuse survivor who was wrongfully convicted of murdering her abuser and sentenced to a virtual life sentence in New Jersey and a juvenile and his sister to obtain a custody award and to obtain SIJS findings from the NJ Family Court so that the juvenile can apply for SIJS as their first step in obtaining a green card.

In order to achieve the best results and expand the reach of our pro bono efforts, the firm has established partnerships with a number of non-profit organizations and community members, including Kids In Need of Defense, Physicians for Human Rights, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Princeton University and Pro Bono Partnership. Their continuous support has been invaluable to us.

The firm’s pro bono practice is led by Vic Souto, Partner and Head of Pro Bono. Our ongoing SIJS matter is being handled by Vic Souto and by Briana Bergen of Lonza Bioscience. Our ongoing wrongful incarceration matter is being handled by partner Tom Meagher and by Inès Zamouri of UN Women.

Any questions about the firm’s pro bono practice should be directed to Vic Souto at vsouto@meagheremanuel.com, or Tom Meagher, the firm’s Managing Partner, at tmeagher@meagheremanuel.com.