​Hughes Hubbard Receives 2014 Safe Haven Award From Immigration Equality

At a May 28 gala, Sarah Cave accepted on behalf of Hughes Hubbard & Reed the 2014 Safe Haven Award from Immigration Equality.

Also honored at the event were associates Ryan Kim, Morgan Feder, Dina Hoffer, Christopher Perre, Meaghan Gragg and Quan Trinh, who have all worked on cases for Immigration Equality over the past year.

Hughes Hubbard was one of five law firms selected to receive a Safe Haven Award from among the 40 elite law firms that regularly donate pro bono legal services to Immigration Equality's clients. The other firms were Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; Kirkland & Ellis; and Sullivan & Cromwell.

Of Hughes Hubbard's 11 open Immigration Equality matters in 2013, asylum was granted in six, decision is pending in four and an application is being prepared in the final one.

Two Hughes Hubbard clients were also recognized at the awards ceremony. Darion Palmer and Brenton Bartley originally came to the US from Jamaica in order to escape death threats and other forms of persecution for being gay. The couple were married in New York on Dec. 27, 2011, several months after same-sex marriage became legal in the state. As a result, for the first time, an Immigration Equality asylum applicant was able to file for asylum on behalf of his spouse and himself. Kim and Feder are in the process of obtaining work authorization for them.

The following attorneys also worked on Immigration Equality matters in 2013: Walter Egbert, Hagit Elul, John Fellas, John Wood, Michael Salzman, Ken Aulet, Ramsey Chamie, Nathaniel Curtis, Veronica DiCamillo, Danny Grossman, Nalini Gupta, Webster McBride, Konstantine Paschalidis and Zach Vosseler.