Akin Gump's Houston office will be a recipient of Human Rights First’s annual Marvin E. Frankel Award.
The award, given to firms who exhibit outstanding dedication to pro bono service, will be presented on October 28 at a ceremony in New York City.
Among the matters for which the office is being recognized are an Akin Gump team’s use of a creative legal theory to win asylum for a Salvadoran woman, the victim of repeated sexual violence; asylum won for a Yemeni woman who feared persecution due to a family member’s political work; and a trial date, after years of delays, for a Syrian asylum seeker. All matters came to the firm via Human Rights First.
The award is named for Judge Marvin E. Frankel, considered by the nonprofit a “founding father of Human Rights First” and former chairman of its board of directors, who dedicated himself to “making a difference in the human rights movement.”