White & Case's global dedication to pro-bono work is evidenced by a recent success story from the Johannesburg office, involving the case of a young Ethiopian woman.

Ten years ago, when she was just a girl, her adoptive father fled political persecution in Ethiopia and was granted asylum in the United States.  Her mother and brother were granted derivative asylum and joined her father three years later.  However, the US did not recognize the legitimacy of the girl's Ethiopian adoption and denied her the derivative asylum granted to the rest of her family.  She was left alone in Kenya, where as a female and refugee, she was at very high risk for tribal racial persecution, rape and torture.

Faced with these odds, in 2003, she walked from Kenya to find a distant relative who was living in South Africa – a distance of approximately 1800 miles (which is only slightly less than the distance from New York City to Las Vegas).  Unfortunately, the relative was unable to help and she was forced to live on the streets of Johannesburg, in circumstances perhaps more dangerous than what she lived through in Kenya and many times worse than those experienced by the homeless in major cities around the world.

Meanwhile, her relatives in the United States, through a New Jersey law firm, continued their efforts to have her join them.  Her case was brought to White & Case in August 2007 when the New Jersey firm, at the recommendation of Human Rights First, (an organization dedicated to helping people at risk throughout the world, such as refugees, people under persecution because of sexual or religious reasons and victims of crimes against humanity), contacted James Stillwaggon in the New York office.  White & Case has a long-standing history of working with Human Rights First, and partner Kantha Rattay in Johannesburg took the lead on this case, assisted by trainee solicitor Elizabeth Lindsay.
 
"The legal challenges of the matter were compounded by the practical difficulties of communicating, preparing for and attending interviews with the US Consulate given that the young woman had no fixed abode and spoke only Amharic (the national language of Ethiopia)" said Kantha.  "Creativity and collaboration with the New Jersey firm ensured that when the asylum appeal was approved in the US, we had everything in place for the interviews and were able to obtain the necessary immigration paperwork from the US consulate in Johannesburg."

On November 21, 2007 the young woman received her approval to immigrate to the United States and arrangements were made to bring her home in time for Christmas.  She arrived at JFK Airport, New York on December 5, 2007 where she was met by her father and reunited with her family at last.

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© 2007 White & Case LLP