The firm’s lawyers have represented clients in nearly every forum that plays a role in deciding cases under the immigration laws, including the immigration courts, the Board of Immigration Appeals, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the federal courts. The firm works closely with leading legal services organizations in the immigration field, including Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), Human Rights First, the National Immigration Law Center, the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, API Legal Outreach and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Individual Representation

Munger Tolles has developed particular expertise in representing individuals in seeking asylum, special immigrant juvenile status and U-visas.

In 2015, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) recognized Munger Tolles with its Pro Bono Attorneys of the Month designation for the firm’s longstanding support and success in winning asylum grants for extremely vulnerable children. Attorneys from the firm have devoted thousands of hours to partnering with KIND to defend the rights of children in need.

The firm has also represented adult U-visa and asylum seekers. For example, in 2015, working with Human Rights First, Munger Tolles won withholding of removal for a 24-year-old Honduran transgender woman, which allowed her to be released from jail, obtain work authorization, and begin a new life in the United States.

Impact Litigation

Family Detention—The firm represents pediatric and mental health professional associations as amici in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in supporting plaintiffs’ effort to enforce a longstanding class-wide settlement agreement requiring the government to minimize the harms caused to children detained by federal immigration authorities.

Deferred Action—The firm represented 109 immigration law professors as amici in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in supporting DHS’s effort to overturn a preliminary injunction barring expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and implementation of the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) program.

SB 1070—Munger Tolles was co-counsel before the district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in obtaining a preliminary injunction against enforcement of Arizona’s anti-immigration and anti-day-labor law.

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