Agnieszka Fryszman, chair and founder of the Human Rights practice at Cohen Milstein, is recognized as leading one of the best private international human rights practices in the world.

Agnieszka has received some of the legal profession’s highest honors including the National Law Journal’s Lifetime Achievement Award, Public Justice’s Trial Lawyer of the Year Award, the Human Trafficking Legal Center’s Human Trafficking Advocate of the Year Award, Appleseed’s Pillar of Justice award, and was named a “Legend” by Lawdragon. She was also named to Forbes Magazine 50 over 50 list as a changemaker who leaves the world better than she found it.

She represents individuals who have been victims of torture, human trafficking, forced and slave labor and other violations of international law. An expert and leader in the field of human rights law, Agnieszka regularly litigates cases against corporate giants and foreign powers. She has a proven track record at all stages of litigation: she has led successful litigation teams, tried cases to verdict, obtained favorable settlements, and presented successful arguments at the courts of appeals.

Her work includes:

Holocaust-era atrocities: Agnieszka was a member of the legal team that successfully represented survivors of Nazi-era forced and slave labor against the German and Austrian companies that allegedly profited from their labor.  These cases were resolved by international negotiations that resulted in multi-billion-dollar settlements. 

Human Trafficking and Forced Labor: Agnieszka filed one of the first claims under the federal human trafficking statute (the TVPRA) and has continued to focus on representing survivors of human trafficking and forced labor.  She has represented workers trapped in supply chain forced labor as well as men and women trafficked by military contractors, in the fishing industry, and to work cleaning houses in Northern Virginia. 

Corporate Accountability: Agnieszka played a key role on the trial team that achieved a $38.3 million dollar verdict on behalf of eight men who were murdered by Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), a paramilitary group designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization. Plaintiffs had alleged that the deaths of their relatives were a direct and foreseeable result of Chiquita Brand International’s support of the AUC. After a six-week trial, a South Florida jury agreed. Agnieszka also led the litigation team that obtained a historic settlement from Exxon Mobil on behalf of eleven Indonesian villagers a week before trial was set to begin. The villagers alleged that ExxonMobil contracted to use soldiers to guard its operations and that those soldiers inflicted horrific abuses on the villagers and their families. On August 2, 2022, the Honorable Royce C. Lamberth for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued an 86-page opinion that largely denied ExxonMobil Corporation’s motion for summary judgment. In the ruling, the court found that most of ExxonMobil’s arguments were “entirely meritless.”

Military contractors:  Agnieszka earned the National Law Journal Pro Bono Award for her efforts on behalf of Nepali laborers killed at U.S. military bases in Iraq. She represented the families of twelve Nepali men and five additional surviving Nepali men who were lured to Jordan with the false promise of well-paying hotel jobs, but instead their passports were confiscated, they were imprisoned and taken against their will to a U.S. military base in Iraq, where they were put to work for U.S. military subcontractors during the Iraq war. Twelve of the men were killed by insurgents. The claims were ultimately resolved, including under innovative proceedings pursuant to the Defense Base Act. This case received international attention and is the focus of the book, The Girl from Kathmandu | Twelve Dead Men and a Woman’s Quest for Justice, by Cam Simpson (HarperCollins, 2018).

Deep Sea Fishing Industry: Agnieszka filed and settled the first successfully resolved case of fishing boat slavery in the world. She represented two Indonesian men who escaped from a fishing boat when it docked in California. The settlement included provisions intended to protect future seamen, including a code of conduct for ship captains and a hand-out for seamen informing them of their rights and who to call for help.

Comfort Women: Agnieszka’s work on behalf of former “comfort women,” women and girls trafficked into sexual slavery by the government of Japan during World War II, was recognized with the “Fierce Sister” award from the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum.

Victims of 9/11: Agnieszka represented, pro bono, victims of the September 11 attack on the Pentagon and obtained one of the highest awards for an injured survivor from the Victim’s Compensation Fund. 

Guantanamo Bay Detention: Agnieszka represented, pro bono, two individuals detained by the United States at Guantanamo Bay who were ultimately cleared without charge.

For her pro bono work, she has been awarded the National Law Journal Pro Bono Award, the Beacon of Justice Award by the National Legal Aid and Defender and the Frederick Douglass Human Rights Award from the Southern Center for Human Rights.