Press Releases

CHICAGO - Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione, one of the largest intellectual property law firms in the U.S., recently announced that Richard D. Watkins, an attorney at the firm, has secured political asylum for a man who was being persecuted in Ethiopia. Watkins took the man's case on a pro bono basis through the National Immigrant Justice Center in November 2005 and prepared an affirmative application for political asylum to avoid the man's deportation. This remedy is available to immigrants who apply within one year of entering the U.S. and can demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality and membership in a particular social group or political opinion.

In this case, the man fled to the U.S. in July 2005 after receiving death threats from Ethiopian government security forces and receiving a warrant for questioning. In 1998, the man had been detained several times, without arrest, for organizing student protests in reaction to harsh conditions for Ethiopian students and the lack of academic freedom in his country. Since then, he was also detained for his newspaper writings about discrepancies in Ethiopian elections and during detention, was beaten, interrogated, tortured and accused of being a member of the opposition party.

To prepare the application for asylum, Mr. Watkins extensively interviewed the man about the seven years of persecution by his government, distilling the man's experiences into an affidavit and essays that accompanied his application, and researched the country conditions over the last decade. Mr. Watkins then attended the man's hearing with the Department of Homeland Security. With Mr. Watkins' assistance, the man was granted his political asylum from the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, a division of the Department of Homeland Security. Now the man is able to obtain lawful work and to apply to adjust his status to legal permanent resident after one year.

Mr. Watkins, an intellectual property attorney at Brinks, plans to take on additional pro bono cases to serve the litigation needs of Chicago residents. His intellectual property practice includes domestic and international patent prosecution, opinion and litigation in the chemical and medical device arts.

The National Immigrant Justice Center, formerly the Midwest Immigrant and Human Rights Center, is a program of the Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights and provides legal information and assistance for low-income immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers in Chicago and the Midwest. For more information, visit www.immigrantjustice.org.

Founded in 1917, Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione is headquartered in Chicago with four other offices across the country serving the intellectual property needs of clients from around the world. The firm is one of the largest IP law firms in the country, with more than 150 attorneys, scientific advisors and patent agents specializing in intellectual property litigation and all aspects of patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, unfair competition, intellectual asset management, and technology and licensing agreements. Brinks routinely handles assignments in fields as diverse as electrical, chemical, mechanical, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, nanotechnology, Internet and computer technology, as well as in trademarks or brand names for a wide variety of products and services.