Chief Judge Robert Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has long been a champion of raising awareness about the plight of the poor in immigration courts and rallying the legal community to take action. Focusing on the lack of legal representation for asylum seekers and the shoddy or unethical practices of some lawyers who prey on the immigrant poor, Katzmann organized a study group to examine and shed light on a problem that was hard to ignore—that a person’s chances of staying in the country, of keeping their job and their family together, were dismal without a lawyer and not much better with unqualified counsel.
Drawing on his own experience as an appellate judge in one of the busiest asylum-review courts in the nation, in writings and speeches, including his 2008 address to the New York City Bar, “The Legal Profession and the Unmet Needs of the Immigrant Poor,” Katzmann lamented the lack of quality representation for people facing deportation and urged a broad expansion of pro bono efforts and training for lawyers to handle asylum cases.
