On November 14, 2019, Wilson Sonsini pro bono attorneys secured a grant of asylum for an asylum seeker from Thailand. The client, “J”, came through Wilson Sonsini through the AIDS Legal Referral Panel, and is the firm’s first client from this organization. J originally came to the United States in 1996 to pursue her Master’s degree. However, a financial crisis in Thailand caused her to lose her school funding. J stayed in the United States in order to work and save money for school, and to avoid her family who do not support her as a transgender woman. In 2008, J contracted HIV, and requires several expensive medications to stay alive that she would not be able to access in Thailand. In April 2019, J, with the help of her doctors, transitioned in her public and private life and now lives fully as a transgender woman. While asylum applicants generally must apply for asylum within one year of entering the United States, Wilson Sonsini successfully argued that J’s transition constituted an “extraordinary circumstance” to overcome the statutory one-year bar.

Associates Jini Chatterjee (former Wilson Sonsini attorney), Elise Lopez, and Malavika Lobo, and Executive Assistants Lilli Cardenas and Debbie Faszholz worked on the matter. Partner Steve Guggenheim provided guidance on the matter.