By Kevin Woo | California Lawyer

THE VOLUNTEERS: Attorneys with Keker & Van Nest in San Francisco are donating 500 pro bono hours this year.

THE CLIENTS: Unaccompanied minors, some as young as ten, among the thousands who arrive in Northern California from Central America and Mexico, seeking refuge in the United States.

THE WORK: Attorneys help the minors apply for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, which provides a green card and a path to citizenship for children who are proven victims of abuse, neglect, or abandonment. Some volunteers serve as “attorney of the day” at immigration court in San Francisco, The attorneys perform assessments when minors first appear in court. The firm also has donated funds to Centro Legal de la Raza, the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, and other nonprofits whose missions include legal assistance to unaccompanied minors.

THE IMPACT: Much better odds that the young applicants won’t be deported to the home countries they fled.