By American Bar Association
Karen T. Grisez, pro bono counsel in the Washington, D.C., office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, is the 2025 recipient of the John H. Pickering Award of Achievement, presented by the American Bar Association Senior Lawyers Division. Grisez will be recognized at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 9, as part of the American Bar Assoiciation Annual Meeting, which will be held Aug. 6-12 in Toronto.
The award honors the life and accomplishments of John H. Pickering, co-founder of the Washington, D.C., law firm formerly known as Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (now WilmerHale), who was involved in a variety of pro bono activities and law-related societal issues affecting older adults. It recognizes lawyers or judges who demonstrate outstanding legal ability and have compiled a distinguished record of service to the profession and their communities, resulting in significant contributions to improving access to justice for all.
After beginning her career as a litigation associate at Fried Frank in 1990, Grisez managed the Washington office’s pro bono program for more than two decades. In that role, she provided supervision and direct representation to pro bono clients in traditional civil poverty law cases including veterans’ benefits, Social Security disability, family law and housing, and became increasingly involved in asylum and other immigration matters. Since early 2023, she has focused exclusively on the firm’s immigration pro bono docket in both the New York and Washington offices.
Grisez has extensive litigation experience in federal courts, before the Board of Immigration Appeals and in immigration courts around the country. She is a frequent speaker and trainer on legal topics relating primarily to asylum, other forms of immigration relief, immigration court reform, detention, ethics and representation of victims of torture and trauma. She has testified three times before Congress and once before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights as the ABA’s representative on immigration-related topics.
Grisez is a member of the ABA, a former chair and former member of its Commission on Immigration and the Working Group on Unaccompanied Minor Immigrants. She has served on the Advisory Board of the ABA Immigration Justice Project in San Diego and previously served on the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service. Grisez is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and served for many years on its national Pro Bono Committee and the District of Columbia chapter’s Pro Bono Committee. She currently represents AILA in the ABA House of Delegates.
Grisez served as former member and chair of the board of trustees of the Center for Migration Studies of New York, a member of the board of directors of the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition (now Amica Center for Immigrant Rights), the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, and is a longtime member of the board of the Washington Council of Lawyers. She is also a former chair of the District of Columbia’s Advisory Committee on Pro Se Litigation and just completed her tenure as a board member on the Indigent Civil Litigation Fund of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She practices before other courts in the District of Columbia and Maryland.
Grisez received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland and a law degree from the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University of America. She is the recipient of AILA’s 2025 Michael
Maggio Memorial Pro Bono Award and the 2024 Humanitarian Service Award from the Center for Migration Studies of New York.
(https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2025/07/karen-t-grisez-to-receive-pickering-award/)
Karen T. Grisez, pro bono counsel in the Washington, D.C., office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, is the 2025 recipient of the John H. Pickering Award of Achievement, presented by the American Bar Association Senior Lawyers Division. Grisez will be recognized at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 9, as part of the American Bar Assoiciation Annual Meeting, which will be held Aug. 6-12 in Toronto.
The award honors the life and accomplishments of John H. Pickering, co-founder of the Washington, D.C., law firm formerly known as Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (now WilmerHale), who was involved in a variety of pro bono activities and law-related societal issues affecting older adults. It recognizes lawyers or judges who demonstrate outstanding legal ability and have compiled a distinguished record of service to the profession and their communities, resulting in significant contributions to improving access to justice for all.
After beginning her career as a litigation associate at Fried Frank in 1990, Grisez managed the Washington office’s pro bono program for more than two decades. In that role, she provided supervision and direct representation to pro bono clients in traditional civil poverty law cases including veterans’ benefits, Social Security disability, family law and housing, and became increasingly involved in asylum and other immigration matters. Since early 2023, she has focused exclusively on the firm’s immigration pro bono docket in both the New York and Washington offices.
Grisez has extensive litigation experience in federal courts, before the Board of Immigration Appeals and in immigration courts around the country. She is a frequent speaker and trainer on legal topics relating primarily to asylum, other forms of immigration relief, immigration court reform, detention, ethics and representation of victims of torture and trauma. She has testified three times before Congress and once before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights as the ABA’s representative on immigration-related topics.
Grisez is a member of the ABA, a former chair and former member of its Commission on Immigration and the Working Group on Unaccompanied Minor Immigrants. She has served on the Advisory Board of the ABA Immigration Justice Project in San Diego and previously served on the ABA Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service. Grisez is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and served for many years on its national Pro Bono Committee and the District of Columbia chapter’s Pro Bono Committee. She currently represents AILA in the ABA House of Delegates.
Grisez served as former member and chair of the board of trustees of the Center for Migration Studies of New York, a member of the board of directors of the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition (now Amica Center for Immigrant Rights), the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, and is a longtime member of the board of the Washington Council of Lawyers. She is also a former chair of the District of Columbia’s Advisory Committee on Pro Se Litigation and just completed her tenure as a board member on the Indigent Civil Litigation Fund of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She practices before other courts in the District of Columbia and Maryland.
Grisez received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland and a law degree from the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University of America. She is the recipient of AILA’s 2025 Michael
Maggio Memorial Pro Bono Award and the 2024 Humanitarian Service Award from the Center for Migration Studies of New York.
(https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2025/07/karen-t-grisez-to-receive-pickering-award/)
