Law360 Profiles Orrick Partnership with PILPG and State Dept

April.11.2022

Law360’s Access to Justice column spotlighted Orrick’s collaboration with pro bono law firm Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG) and the U.S. State Department to support their investigation and provide legal assistance to the Rohingya, who fled widespread violence in Myanmar. The State Department sought to determine if Myanmar had committed crimes against humanity, or possibly, genocide — acts that could be tried in international courts — since it began a military crackdown of the Rohingya in 2016.

More than 100 Orrick lawyers and legal professionals collaborated with the State department and PILPG on the project which entailed PILPG collecting evidence from over 1,000 Rohingya refugees, using a questionnaire prepared by Orrick. Then, a team of Orrick pro bono attorneys helped PILPG investigators pore over 15,000 documents to examine the claims in the testimonies and determine whether they met legal thresholds for crimes against humanity or genocide and drafted a 100-page report with their findings.

Paul Williams, a former State Department attorney who co-founded PILPG, told Law360 that Orrick's support was crucial in compiling the report. "We could not have done this without Orrick," Williams said.

Rene Kathawala, Orrick’s Pro Bono Counsel, told Law360 that the partnership between government and private sector is crucial in making an impact on society and the world. "This is a classic case where the private sector is critical for the resources, and to allow the governmental function to be fulfilled in a professional way," Kathawala said. "It demonstrates the power of pro bono."

Last month, at a press conference held at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States has determined Myanmar's military had committed genocide, with the bulk of the material supporting that conclusion from PILPG’s and Orrick’s report.

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Rene Kathawala Pro Bono Counsel

New York

Rene works with other pro bono counsel and legal services nonprofits to increase the quantity and quality of pro bono representation that is being provided to indigent clients in each of the cities worldwide where Orrick has a presence. In addition, he supervises and directly works on cases in such diverse areas as immigration law, family and matrimonial law, housing law, public benefits law, employment law counseling, impact litigation and nonprofit advice and counseling. Rene has worked on many substantial matters in the federal and state systems over his career that are reported as precedent. He also works with firm attorneys to strengthen the firm's innovative Impact Finance team that he founded and that provides representation in diverse transactional areas to nonprofit, for profit and hybrid organizations dedicated to providing basic services to poor persons around the world in areas including microfinance, water, education, energy, housing and health.

Based on his long-standing commitment to access to justice issues, Rene has been appointed to serve as co-chair of the New York City Bar Association Race Equity in the New York State Courts Working Group, co-chair of the Association of Pro Bono Counsel Transactional Law Working Group, as member of the New York City Bar Association Right to Counsel Task Force, as member of the New York City Bar Association Family Court Judicial Appointment & Assignment Process Work Group, as member of Sanctuary for Families' Narkis Golin Initiative, and as member of the Kids in Need of Defense's New York Advisory Committee. In recognition of his exemplary work in family law, United States District Judge Bloom appointed Rene as a special master in a federal court family law matter in 2014 in the Eastern District of New York in case number 07-cv-02565-ARR-LB, styled Garmhausen et al v. United States Department of Justice et al. Rene also appeared in a documentary with wide release, called "The Accidental Spy," about his pro bono immigration client, Mr. Blerim Skoro, for whom Rene spent six-years in the New York City immigration court and gained deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture for the client.

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