Issue # 475
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A F R IC A N
C OM MU N I T Y
N E W S PAP E R
Minnesota Chief Justice recognizes Paschal Nwokocha for pro bono work
Military Gender Advisor Steplyne Nyaboga lauded by UN Chief
‘Serenade’ album celebrates LGBTQ youth
Twin Cities attorney, Paschal Nwokocha, has been honored by the Supreme Court of the state of Minnesota and Minnesota/Dakotas Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association for his pro bono work. Photo: Courtesy of Paschal Nwokocha
By Edwin Okong’o Mshale Contributing Editor
P.10
JUNE 21-27,2021
Album: “Sounds from The Ancestors”
From a very early age, Paschal O. Nwokocha knew he wanted to dedicate his life to serving the most vulnerable in society. The obvious path towards that goal was through his Catholic faith. At the age of 16, he enrolled at Seat of Wisdom Seminary, in Owerri, Nigeria, his country of birth. “I was supposed to be a Catholic priest,” Nwokocha said. That, however, changed in 1992, when he left the seminary and came to the United States to study at the University of St. Thomas, a Catholic institution located in the Twin Cities. After graduating with a degree in Philosophy, he decided to go to law school. Today, Nwokocha is one of the most distinguished immigration lawyers in the state of Minnesota. He is also an educator and the
co-author and co-editor of the Immigration Practice Deskbook, a guidebook designed to help attorneys understand the complex field of U.S. immigration law. But those who know Nwokocha say you wouldn’t know how accomplished he is because he has remained modest and compassionate. Although he didn’t end up being a priest, he is still a devout Catholic, who believes so strongly in serving those in need that he left a job as an environmental attorney to venture into immigration law. Through his firm, Paschal Nwokocha & Chukwu Law Offices, LLC, he has spent more than 20 years representing corporations, businesses, individuals, and families in immigration cases. Many of his clients are people who can’t afford to pay for his services. But he still provides them with the same high quality of legal representation he gives his paying clients.
“One thing that is clear to me is that without representation, the chance of any immigrant prevailing is very, very minimal,” Nwokocha said. “So, I believe that our skills and our knowledge in immigration law can be put to use, not just to those who can pay our fees, but to those who by no fault of their own cannot afford it.” Attorneys in the United States are not required to provide free legal services, but according to the American Bar Association (ABA), “every lawyer has a professional responsibility to provide services to those unable to pay.” It recommends that each lawyer do a minimum of 50 hours of pro bono work per year. Nwokocha goes far beyond that minimum recommendation. In May, the Supreme Court of the state of Minnesota honored him for taking more than 100 pro bono cases through Volunteer Lawyers Network (VLN), a Minneapolis-based nonprofit that links low-income clients to
attorneys. “The Minnesota State Bar Association Access to Justice Committee has brought to my attention a small number of attorneys whose commitment to pro bono has been exceptional,” Chief Justice Lorie S. Gildea wrote in a letter to Nwokocha. “You are one of those few. You are answering the highest calling of our profession by helping make equal access to justice a reality.” Colleen R. Beebe Purisaca, who began volunteering at VLN in 1997 before becoming the managing attorney for its Immigrant Legal Services Program, said the 100 cases Nwokocha was honored for do not tell the whole story of his compassion. She has spent her entire law career in nonprofits operating in the areas of refugee, immigrant, and human rights, and has known
Nwokocha on Pg. 5