Emily Heger
Pro Bono Immigration Attorney
Areas of Focus
- Pro Bono
- Immigration Law & Policy
- Corporate Client Partnerships
- Pro Bono Scholars Program
- Equal Justice Works
- Legal Services Organizations
- Helps manage the firm’s pro bono practice.
- Maintains a substantive practice in humanitarian immigration matters.
Emily helps manage the firm’s pro bono practice with a focus on supporting the humanitarian immigration docket, including asylum and refugee matters. She maintains an active immigration practice with a particular focus on representing persons fleeing human rights abuses, developing and managing innovative programs involving dozens of Akin lawyers.
Prior to joining the firm, Emily was a 2019 Equal Justice Works Fellow co-sponsored by AT&T and Akin. Her project, hosted by Human Rights Initiative of North Texas, helped persons fleeing gender-based persecution seek refuge in the United States and was profiled in Dallas Observer.
Emily is an adjunct professor at Texas A&M School of Law, where she leads an asylum externship. She received her J.D. cum laude from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law in 2019.
- Assisted in securing asylum grants for scholars, public servants, activists and LGBTQ persons from countries in Southwest Asia, Africa and Central America.
- Assisted in organizing a firmwide project to help asylees apply for lawful permanent residence.
- Assisted in organizing a firmwide project to help Ukrainian and Venezuela nationals apply for Temporary Protected Status.
EducationJ.D., Southern Methodist University, cum laude, 2019
B.S., University of Texas at Austin
J.D., Southern Methodist University, cum laude, 2019
B.S., University of Texas at Austin
Bar AdmissionsTexas
Texas
- Speaker, “TPS for Venezuelans,” Casa Venezuela Dallas, July 2021.
- Co-author, “The Importance of Evidence in Asylum Claims,” National Law Journal, April 2021.
- Speaker, “I-589 Masterclass,” Texas Bar Association’s Handling Your First (or Next) Asylum Case, April 2021.
- Speaker, “International Women’s Day Event,” United Nations USA Dallas Chapter, March 2021.
- Moderator, “Immigration Law: The Evolving Landscape of Intersectionality, Innovation, and Inspiration, Equal Justice Works Career Fair,” October 2020.
