The information in this blog post is current as of March 19, 2025.
CILA has updated our practice advisory on “Ethical Considerations for Appearing as Friend of Court” in light of a recent EOIR policy memorandum that has potential consequences for attorneys working with unaccompanied children. On February 4, 2025, the Acting Director of EOIR under the Trump 2.0 Administration, signed PM 25-18 to cancel the guidance on friend of court issued by the Biden Administration in DM 22-06 and reinstate the 2019 guidance on friend of court from the first Trump Administration in OPPM 20-05. CILA’s updated practice advisory explains some of the differences in the guidance over time and includes best practices and tips for attorneys who act as friend of court in their practice working with children.
The updated resource is available here. You will need a free CILA account to access it. Sign up for an account here. Contact CILA at cila@abacila.org if you need additional assistance accessing this resource.
You can also check out CILA’s blog post from 2022 on “Updates to Friend of Court?” for more background information about serving as a friend of court and the changes that occurred during the previous administration.