Winston Wins Asylum for Serbian Persecuted on Account of Her Sexual Orientation

On March 20, 2018, Winston & Strawn obtained asylum for a 23-year-old lesbian woman from Serbia. The client fled Serbia in 2014 after she was sexually assaulted, physically attacked, threatened with death on various occasions, and discriminated against due to her sexual orientation by teachers, classmates, and other members of society. The country conditions evidence and affidavits submitted in the case demonstrated that the Serbian government did not and would not protect the client or other members of the LGBT community from violence.   

The National Immigration Justice Center (NIJC) referred the case to Winston’s Chicago office for representation in the affirmative asylum case which had been filed by NIJC. Chicago Associate Allie Gecas conducted meetings with the client and prepared drafts of the client’s evidence pertaining to her claim and supporting documents to submit to the asylum office under the supervision of Partner Ben Kern.

During the course of representation, the client moved to Los Angeles and Winston’s Los Angeles office continued to provide representation to the client. Los Angeles Associate Matt Seipel and Immigration Pro Bono Supervisory Attorney Nareeneh Sohbatian continued to work with the client to finalize her legal memo and supporting documents to submit to the asylum office and prepared her for her asylum interview. Nareeneh represented the client at her asylum interview.