Two cases per year · No fee · No costs · Strict eligibility
Each year I accept up to two federal immigration delay cases entirely without charge — one in each half of the calendar year — for applicants who cannot afford counsel but do not qualify for free legal aid, and whose humanitarian cases have been left undecided far beyond any reasonable timeline.
There is a population that immigration delay litigation systematically fails to reach. Free legal services organizations generally serve households at or below the Federal Poverty Guidelines; the market serves those who can pay counsel. In between sits a band of applicants — working families slightly above the poverty line — who can afford neither, and who wait years for adjudications the law requires the government to make. When the delayed case is a humanitarian one — a family separated across an I-130, a VAWA self-petitioner, an abused or abandoned child waiting on SIJS — the wait is not an administrative inconvenience. It is the harm itself.
This page is my answer, within the limits of a solo federal practice. I commit to accepting up to two mandamus cases per calendar year on a fully pro bono basis: one case in the first half of the year (January through June), one in the second (July through December). An unfilled slot does not carry forward to the following half-year or the following year. "Fully pro bono" means exactly that — no attorney's fee of any kind, and I advance and absorb the court filing fee and costs of service myself. The client pays nothing.
Because the demand for free representation is effectively unlimited and the program is deliberately small, the eligibility criteria below are strict, objective, and applied without exception. Please read them completely before applying. Applications that do not meet every criterion cannot be considered.
Every criterion below is mandatory. Meeting all four makes an application eligible for consideration; it does not entitle anyone to representation.
An accepted pro bono matter covers one federal action — a petition for writ of mandamus under 28 U.S.C. § 1361 and/or an unreasonable-delay claim under 5 U.S.C. § 706(1), or an application under 8 U.S.C. § 1447(b) where that is the correct vehicle — litigated through resolution in the district court. That includes the complaint, service, motion practice, and negotiation with the U.S. Attorney's Office, which is how most of these cases actually end: with the agency adjudicating the delayed application.
The representation does not include appeals, and it does not include the underlying immigration case itself — the lawsuit compels a decision on your application; it does not prepare, supplement, or argue the application, and it cannot guarantee an approval. Where the litigation outcome supports it, I may seek attorneys' fees from the government under the Equal Access to Justice Act; any such application costs the client nothing and does not change the pro bono character of the engagement.
Applications are by email only, and the initial application must be limited to the items below. Do not send supporting documents, case files, or detailed personal narratives with your initial email — I will request documentation only if your application advances. Unsolicited materials beyond the items listed are not reviewed, are not treated as confidential, and do not create an attorney-client relationship.
Confirm your household income falls between 100% and 175% of the current Poverty Guidelines for your household size, your form type is covered, your case is at least 18 months past the posted processing time, and you reside in one of the listed districts. If any criterion fails, the application cannot be considered — please do not apply.
Email simone@bertollini.com with the subject line "Pro Bono Mandamus Application" and only the following: (a) form type and receipt number; (b) filing date; (c) the processing time currently posted by USCIS for that form and office, with the number of months your case exceeds it; (d) household size and annual household income; (e) your state and county of residence; and (f) a description of the humanitarian circumstances of your case, in no more than one paragraph.
I review applications as capacity permits. If your application advances, I will contact you to request income documentation and case records, and to conduct a conflicts check. Because of volume, I am not able to respond to every application, and no inference should be drawn from silence. An application under review is not a promise of anything.
No attorney-client relationship exists unless and until both of us sign a written pro bono engagement agreement. If the half-year's slot has already been filled, eligible applications are not waitlisted and do not carry into the next period; you are welcome to reapply when a new slot opens. If I do not take your case, the pro se mandamus guide on this site was written for exactly your situation.
Selection among eligible applications is made at my sole and ultimate discretion, is not first-come-first-served, and weighs the humanitarian urgency of the case, the strength of the delay claim, and my capacity at the time. I reserve the right to decline any application for any reason or no reason, to leave a slot unfilled, and to modify, suspend, or discontinue this program at any time without notice. Submitting an application, standing alone, does not make anyone a prospective client for conflicts purposes beyond what the applicable rules of professional conduct themselves provide, and creates no obligation on my part to respond, evaluate, or represent.
This program is intentionally narrow. If your income, case type, delay, or district falls outside it — or the current slot is filled — my ordinary practice remains available: federal immigration mandamus litigation, on standard engagement terms, in district courts nationwide. Reasonable fees, and a candid assessment of whether your delay is worth suing over.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. This page is informational and does not constitute legal advice. Nothing on this page is an offer of representation to any particular person.