DRM attorneys worked with the VT Asylum Assistance Project (VAAP) to coordinate and host a full-day clinic providing limited-scope representation to asylum-seekers by assisting them in filling out their initial asylum applications.

VAAP is a resource center that recruits, trains, mentors, and supports pro bono legal and lay advocates to provide free immigration services to humanitarian status-seekers in Vermont. 

The clinic was held on July 26, 2024 in the Champlain Conference Room in DRM’s downtown Burlington office. DRM attorneys Will Dodge, Josh Leckey, Monica Allard, Jennifer Drake, Taylor Hallowell and Kelsey Schweitzer, along with Summer Associates Sean Davis, Falon McGinty, and Michael Murphy volunteered their time and expertise. By all reports, the lawyer participants found it challenging, engaging and very satisfying to be of service in this way.

A follow-up message received from VT Asylum Assistance Project said, “On behalf of the VAAP team I want to express our sincerest gratitude for your incredible support on our pro se asylum clinic, this past July 26. Thanks to your dedication and hard work, we were able to assist 9 families and issue-spot 2 potential Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS). Your work really made a substantial difference in their lives. We deeply appreciate our partnership with DRM and look forward to continuing this important work together.”

Group of attorneys and VAAP staff

The firm has a long history of civil rights work, including that of founder Robert D. Rachlin, who served as volunteer counsel for detainees at Guantánamo from 2004-2006 and as a volunteer for Lawyers’ Constitutional Defense Committee in Jackson, Mississippi in 1967, back in the early days of his distinguished career. Another founder, John H. Downs, worked actively with the Lawyers Alliance for Nuclear Arms Control. The firm’s attorneys regularly take on pro bono matters as part of their commitment to justice in the community.