Lawyers at Arnold & Porter recently assisted longstanding pro bono client Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) in establishing “KIND Europe” in Belgium.
The establishment of KIND Europe follows five years of work by Arnold & Porter to help KIND become a multinational non-governmental organisation. A key aspect of KIND’s mission is to provide and train pro bono lawyers to assist unaccompanied minors in immigration proceedings.
This expansion is the latest chapter in Arnold & Porter’s efforts to assist KIND and expand KIND’s footprint since its founding in 2008. KIND will now look to establish a presence in Germany.
“Since our earliest days, Arnold & Porter has been essential to KIND’s ability to help unaccompanied children in need of protection outside the United States,” said KIND President Wendy Young. “With more children on the move around the world than ever before, Arnold & Porter remains steadfastly by KIND’s side as we help meet children’s needs wherever they are in their migration journey.”
Arnold & Porter has been involved with KIND’s work in Europe since 2017 when it helped the organisation expand into Continental Europe in an effort to address several crises involving unaccompanied minors, including children arriving from Syria and Afghanistan and other children arriving from Northern Africa across the Mediterranean, all in great need of protection from conflict, forced child labor or trafficking.
From 2017 to 2020, numerous Arnold & Porter lawyers in its London, Brussels, Frankfurt, and DC offices helped KIND research the law of several countries in Europe and consider local non-governmental organisations with which KIND might partner.
Prior to the work by the Brussels team, KIND expanded into the UK in 2015 with the help of Arnold & Porter’s London office. Attorneys in the Arnold & Porter’s DC office also worked in the last several years to help KIND establish its presence in Mexico and to assist in its programs in the North Triangle of Central America.
The Arnold & Porter pro bono team that handled the establishment of KIND Europe was led by counsel Charlotte Simphal in Arnold & Porter’s Brussels office, with assistance from associates Laurent Thiry, Louis van der Werff, Laura Beuls and Emil Hristov. Others who helped KIND expand in recent years included partners Niels Ersbøll, Axel Gutermuth, Raul Herrera, and Jane Wessel, and counsel Sam Witten, and numerous other lawyers and staff throughout the firm.