Michael Sternhell, a seventh-year associate at New York-based Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, has been representing seven ethnic Uighurs wrongfully imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay, despite the government's acknowledgement of their innocence.

"And a friend at the Center for Constitutional Rights presented this case to me mentioning that a group of refugees in Guantánamo were denied the right to file a habeas petition, and since I believe that everyone deserves their day in court, I was offended that the government denied them their right to file a petition."