Wilson Sonsini was honored with the Partner in Justice Award at the Center for Justice and Accountability’s 2022 Gala, which ran from May 9 to 13.  The gala celebrates the trailblazers and innovators who are advancing what’s possible for human rights and justice.

The Partner in Justice Award recognizes the remarkable partnerships that make CJA’s work possible. Over the past two decades, Wilson Sonsini has partnered with CJA on some of their most challenging cases. Together, we achieved a landmark victory in Jaramillo v. Jiménez Naranjo, a decade-long litigation involving human rights abuses committed by “Macaco,” one of Colombia’s most notorious paramilitary commanders. Thanks to our  partnership, which included key testimony from former paramilitary warlords obtained by Wilson Sonsini partners Luke Liss and Dylan Savage in Colombia, a federal court in Florida found him responsible for extrajudicial killing and torture—the first time Macaco has ever been held to account for the human rights violations committed under his command, which included the murders, disappearances, and torture of thousands of civilians. This decision also marked the first time a U.S. court found that the Colombian military worked in a symbiotic relationship with paramilitaries carrying out human rights abuses.

Learn more about the gala here, and watch our acceptance speech here.