AILA Presents the AILA Amicus Committee with the 2023 Jack Wasserman Memorial Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, June 9, 2023

WASHINGTON, DC - The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) recognizes the AILA Amicus Committee with the 2023 Jack Wasserman Memorial Award for excellence in litigation in the field of immigration law.

The AILA Amicus committee is a group of appellate lawyers tracking litigation trends and drafting, reviewing, and signing onto to amicus briefs filed in immigration cases pending before the federal courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals. The committee is comprised of a cross-section of attorneys in private practice, the non-profit sector, and academia, with a wide range of expertise in humanitarian, business, and family immigration, as well as removal defense.

Many of these cases the committee supports are being litigated by AILA members, and they often touch on topics of widespread importance to the practice of immigration law: asylum eligibility, standards of review, the immigration consequences of convictions, federal court jurisdiction, and executive authority. Often, the committee members are asked to dig into a topic that isn’t necessarily their area of expertise, in order to ascertain what stance the organization should take on an issue, and they always do so with enthusiasm, professionalism, and the highest levels of thoughtfulness and intelligence. Their hard work “behind the scenes” of ongoing litigation is often crucial to educating the federal judiciary about how immigration law “really works” and the impact that a single ruling could have on tens of thousands of pending applications for immigration status.

For the excellent work and dedication to furthering important litigation efforts as volunteers, AILA is incredibly proud to recognize the Amicus Committee with the 2023 Jack Wasserman Memorial Award.

The American Immigration Lawyers Association is the national association of immigration lawyers established to promote justice, advocate for fair and reasonable immigration law and policy, advance the quality of immigration and nationality law and practice, and enhance the professional development of its members.