AILA Presents Karen T. Grisez with the 2025 Michael Maggio Memorial Pro Bono Award

WASHINGTON, DC - The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) recognizes Karen T. Grisez, Pro Bono Counsel of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, LLP., with the 2025 Michael Maggio Memorial Pro Bono Award for outstanding efforts in providing pro bono representation in the immigration field.

As her nominators wrote, “For the entirety of her 35-year legal career, Fried Frank pro bono counsel Karen T. Grisez has remained deeply committed to giving back to the firm, the legal community in Washington, DC, and nationally through meaningful engagement in pro bono activities, bar sponsored programs and public interest undertakings…Her legacy is one of unwavering dedication to the principles of equal justice and opportunity. Her tireless efforts have not only provided critical legal support to countless individuals and families but have also inspired a new generation of attorneys to embrace pro bono work and public service.”

Ms. Grisez began her career as a litigation associate in the Washington, DC office, but in the mid-1990’s began to supervise and provide direct representation in pro bono matters in all substantive civil poverty law areas. Over time, she developed increasing expertise in asylum, removal defense, family-based immigration, survivors’ benefits, SIJS, adjustment of status, naturalization and federal court litigation. She was part of the MAVNI team that challenged the denial of naturalization to soldiers induced to join the Army by a promise of expedited citizenship. Since early 2023, she has been responsible for Fried Frank’s immigration pro bono docket nationally, overseeing matters before USCIS and the Immigration Courts in New York, New Jersey and the metropolitan DC area. She has also led delegations to volunteer at the Texas border with ProBAR for over twenty years.

Ms. Grisez is a longstanding AILA member and serves on its recently-created Rule of Law Task Force. She previously served on the national Pro Bono Committee, was a former member and chair of the DC Chapter's Pro Bono Committee, a former member of the Family Detention Task Force, and a former trustee of the American Immigration Council. She has served as a faculty member at multiple Litigation Institutes and was an editor of AILA’s original Litigation Toolbox. She has also served as a member and chair of the ABA Commission on Immigration and is a former member of its Working Group on Unaccompanied Minor Immigrants. She testified twice before Congress on immigration-related issues, once before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on detention, and collaborated closely with AILA on advocacy supporting an independent Article I immigration court. She currently serves as AILA’s representative in the ABA’s House of Delegates and as liaison to the Commission on Immigration. She is also a prior member of the Board of Directors of the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights (formerly CAIR Coalition), a former trustee and board chair of the Center for Migration Studies of New York, and currently serves on the Immigration Task Force of the Association of Pro Bono Counsel (APBCO).

Ms. Grisez received her B.A. summa cum laude from the University of Maryland and her J.D. from the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America.

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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.