Research Guides: LAW 6829- Immigration Practice Clinic Guide: TN-JFON & Vanderbilt Afghan Asylum Project

Nashville Pro Bono Attorney Resources

AILA
A national immigration association of over 15,000 lawyers and law professors. AILA has a mentor program for those who join the association.
Center for Gender and Refugee Studies
An organization focusing on women, children, and LGBTQ individuals seeking asylum. Practitioners can have one-on-one phone consultations with a staff attorney, use the asylum expert database, and receive relevant reports, briefs, and other documents for their case.
CLINIC
An immigration organization that trains pro bono lawyers and organizations nation-wide. CLINIC hosts the BIA Pro Bono Appeals Project, which partners with lawyers to represent immigrants at the Board of Immigration Appeals. CLINIC staff will mentor practitioners and share resources.
Human Rights First
An international human rights organization that provides mentorship and training to lawyers who volunteer to take an asylum case with the organization.
Immigrant Justice Center
Part of the New York City Bar Justice Center, the IJC matches immigrants with pro bono attorneys and provides mentoring, training, and guidance throughout the representation.
Immigration Equality
The nation’s leading LGBTQ immigrant organization has a pro bono network with mentorship opportunities.
Immigration Justice Campaign
An organization with a network of pro bono lawyers who represent detained immigrants for removal defense. The organization has a mentorship program that offers group mentoring, office hours, and an assigned mentor who can give advice, review filings, and assist in preparing for hearings.
KIND
A nonprofit serving unaccompanied and separated children. KIND assigns each pro bono lawyer with a KIND lawyer who provides guidance on case strategy, feedback on drafts, mock adjudications, and samples and checklists.
Safe Passage Project
A New York City-based nonprofit that provides pro bono legal representation to refugee and immigrant children facing deportation. Safe Passage mentors practitioners throughout their case on immigration law, practice and procedure, sample applications, motions and pleadings, and documentation.

Are you employing an expert to provide a general affidavit about conditions in Afghanistan? Obtaining an expert report is common in asylum cases. For the Afghan cases, my students and I obtained expert witness reports – some of the experts wrote reports/affidavits for free. Below are the names of the expert witnesses we contacted and their expertise. Please contact the expert to obtain their consent to use the document prior to submitting it with your case. You will want to have the expert sign and notarize the statement (if possible).

General List of COI Afghan Experts - here
Afghan Military Expert, Tim Foxley - timfoxley@aol.com (charges fee)
Hazara Expert
- Dr. Iqbal Akhtar - iakhtar@fiu.edu (no fee)
- Dr. William Malely – Hazara Expert from Australia – generic Affidavit attached – also email from Maley recommending other expert witnesses (no fee for generic report)
- Yalda Royan - yalda.royan@yahoo.com – Hazara & Women’s Rights Expert (worked for the UN recommended by UDC professor – recent arrival) (small fee)
- Dr Niamatullah Ibrahimi, Lecturer (Assistant Professor in US terminology) in International Relations at LaTrobe University, is author of what is now seen as the definitive work on Hazaras: The Hazaras and the Afghan State: Rebellion, Exclusion and the Struggle for Recognition (London: Hurst & Co., 2017). His email address is n.ibrahimi@latrobe.edu.au
- Besmellah Rezaee is a Barrister and Solicitor based in Adelaide, and principal solicitor in the law firm Beena Rezaee. He is an Hazara himself and has appeared successfully for many Hazara clients. See https://www.brlegal.com.au/besmellah-rezaee/
- Dr Melissa Kerr Chiovenda is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, and has extensive experience in providing pro bono assistance in asylum cases: see https://zayed.academia.edu/MelissaKerrChiovenda
Afghan Naming Conventions
- Jawad Sukhanyar Affidavit – Regarding Afghan naming conventions, dates, etc.
Afghan Women’s Rights Expert - Dr. Morwari Zafar at Georgetown

Throughout your case, you may need to hire a Dari or Pashtu interpreter in the Nashville area depending on the language your client and fact witnesses speak. Please find below two resources.

Knoxville Foreign Language Academy
The Knoxville Foreign Language Academy has both Dari and Pashtu interpreters available by telephone and Zoom. They also offer translation services.
Respond Crisis Translation
Respond Crisis Translation has Pashtu & Dari interpreters.
Tennessee Language Center
The Tennessee Language Center in Nashville has both in-person and telephonic 24/7 interpreters for hire.

American Bar Association - Commission on Immigration Webinars