Skadden’s New Pro Bono Case Runs Counter to Trump on Immigration

Skadden, after cutting a deal with President Donald Trump to take on causes he supports, is moving in the opposite direction by helping an immigrant try to avoid removal from the US.

Skadden lawyers are representing a 38-year-old woman from Mexico who sued US Citizenship and Immigration Services on May 23 for denying her a visa for crime victims that would allow her to stay in the country. Monserrat Belen Arreola was denied the visa in 2023 during President Joe Biden’s administration, though Trump has stepped up efforts to remove undocumented immigrants from the US.

The involvement of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in the case is noteworthy in two ways: The law firm is taking on a pro bono effort that counters a Trump goal, and it is partnering with a group that top law firms have been avoiding during the president’s second term.

The group, National Immigrant Justice Center, has been struggling to find major law firms to take its cases, Lisa Koop, the group’s national director of legal services, wrote in a court filing in a separate case last month.

Several of the group’s usual partner firms “have suspended acceptance of new immigration matters due to messaging from the White House about pro bono involvement in immigration matters,” Koop wrote.

Representatives of the National Immigrant Justice Center and Skadden didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Skadden’s pro bono work has come under the spotlight since the firm on March 28 reached an agreement with Trump to provide $100 million in free legal services that the firm and the administration support, such as fighting antisemitism, promoting justice “fairness” and assisting veterans, active military, law enforcement, and government officials.

Eight other law firms made similar agreements, pledging more than $840 million in legal services and raising questions about whether Big Law would be willing to take up pro bono issues that could draw the president’s ire.

It’s unclear how Skadden or most of the other firms that made agreements with Trump plan to fulfill their commitments. Cadwalader’s litigation co-chair said earlier this month the firm plans to aid the Brooklyn District Attorney through work such as defending criminal convictions though he hadn’t yet run the idea by the DA or Trump administration.

Skadden’s Case

Arreola’s suit asks a US district court judge from the Northern District of Illinois to send her case back to the US immigration agency to be decided in compliance with case law that supports her position that she should have received a visa. She argues that after an immigration judge granted her a waiver needed to receive a visa, the immigration agency in 2023 improperly found that the judge lacked authority to rule on such waiver requests.

Laura Bernescu, the Skadden litigator leading the firm’s work on the Arreola case, is a litigation counsel in the Chicago office. She didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The firm’s agreement with the president notes that Skadden will create a pro bono committee that ensures its pro bono activities “represent the full political spectrum,” according to a March 28 Truth Social post.

Skadden lawyers have a history of helping the National Immigrant Justice Center. Gretchen Wolf, a litigation partner in Chicago, serves on the group’s board and leadership council, according to the group’s website. Peter Cheun, a pro bono immigration attorney in Chicago, serves on the leadership council.

Koop in her court filing last month said the lack of help from attorneys has especially hindered the organization’s work for immigrant children. National Immigrant Justice Center has 250 children asylum matters seeking pro bono attorneys, and less than 10 are likely to be placed in the coming weeks, she said in the document.

— With reporting by Justin Henry

The case is: Arreola v. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services et al, N.D. Ill., 1:25-cv-05842, 5/23/25.