The text below is excerpted from a letter from Michael H. Byowitz which you can download in full here.
The ABA ILS Afghan Legal Professionals Scholarship and Mentoring Pilot Program (Pilot Program), with BOG approval, is working to aid Afghan judges, prosecutors, and lawyers to qualify as lawyers or gain law-related employment within the U.S. legal system.
The Pilot Program is seeking online donations from ABA leaders and active members. We also have begun reaching out to law firms, foundations, and others. Suggestions for outreach and introductions to perspective donors would be appreciated.
The Pilot Program needs volunteers from across all areas of practice to join with the Afghan Professionals Resettlement Task Force (Task Force) to help with our work as well. In addition, volunteers may apply to serve as Mentors in the Pilot Program. In these capacities, volunteers may, for example, mentor Afghan legal professionals applying to LLM programs, studying for the bar exam, and seeking employment in the U.S. legal system; help the Task Force with drafting documents needed for agreements with law schools and other co-sponsoring organizations; reach out to state and local bars and law schools for potential partnering with the Task Force; and mentor Afghan legal professionals who seek to qualify for law-related professions—e.g., paralegals, immigration advocates.
With your support, the Pilot Program will provide resettled Afghan judges, prosecutors, and lawyers—especially women—access to legal education through LLM programs, which will allow them to sit for a bar exam and pursue career opportunities in the U.S. legal system. The Pilot Program is designed to serve our Afghan colleagues who hope to rebuild their legal careers in the U.S. after being driven from Afghanistan with no options to return.