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Pro Bono Success Stories
LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae L.L.P.
Attorneys at LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae L.L.P. win asylum for gay couple who in Colombia were targeted for their sexual orientation.
Camil Perdomo Lopez and Juan Carlos Veloza, a gay couple from Colombia, fled their homeland after being repeatedly threatened and harassed because of their sexual orientation. They came to Human Rights First, seeking assistance with their asylum claim, and Human Rights First recruited three first year associates, Mikhail Iliev, Jordana Berman, & Herb Ryder, from LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae L.L.P to take on the couple’s case. The three associates argued that Mr. Lopez and Mr. Veloza were members of a social group, based on their sexual orientation. Working against a tight deadline in their first pro bono case, the three associates gathered evidence of the hostile environment towards gays in Colombia and obtained affidavits from their family members who could corroborate their asylum claims. In the end, Mikhail Iliev, Jordana Berman, & Herb Ryder won asylum for their clients. Their asylum win was profiled in the New York Law Journal.