March For Our Lives
Julia was the Deputy Director and Press Liaison for the 2018 March For Our Lives rally in New York City protesting for common sense gun regulations. Julia and her team organized 175,000 individuals who marched from the Upper West Side down to Midtown Manhattan where she spoke and shared the stage and microphone with victims of gun violence, lawmakers, including former NY State Governor Andrew Cuomo and former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, and celebrities, including Paul McCartney.
2021 Julia Ghahramani Immigration Advocacy Award
New this year and established to honor a member of the Akin Gump community who strongly advocated for immigrants, the award was presented to senior counsel Melissa Gibson. For the past five years, Ms. Gibson has been a steadfast advocate for a young man from El Salvador, who fled his home country after he was forcefully conscripted into the violent MS-13 gang. Due to his former gang affiliation, the client has been in government custody since arriving in the United States in 2016. Ms. Gibson has dual-tracked efforts to both seek relief for the client and to secure his release from custody. After a successful appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, on remand, the client was granted relief under the Convention Against Torture. With the government planning to appeal, Ms. Gibson continues fighting for justice.