WASHINGTON – For Covington & Burling’s Martin Gold, his firm’s pro bono efforts to get Congress to express regret for anti-Chinese laws strike a personal chord.

Mr. Gold, co-chairman of Covington’s government affairs practice group, said his Jewish grandfather emigrated to the United States from Russia in 1908 to escape persecution and gain opportunities to succeed. But U.S. laws in the 19th and 20th centuries did not afford the Chinese the same prospect.