Table 1.

Key Characteristics of Physicians that Asylum Legal Professionals Seek

Code	Representative Quotes
Proficiency in Language of Applicant	“For some types of evaluations it doesn’t matter, the client can bring an interpreter or translator, but for others where the person feels uncomfortable speaking about it with anyone, to have more people present during the evaluation just makes it that much more difficult.” (Non pro bono/private firm)
Willingness to Testify	“When a doctor can come in and testify [in court], then maybe the doctor can clarify things, because you have an opportunity to talk about it more, as opposed to being just confined to what’s within the four corners of the page of paper that the report is written on.” (Non pro bono/private firm)
Empathy	“It’s really important that the evaluators have some kind of experience with other cultures, some kind of familiarity with trauma and with how torture plays out around the world, because it’s really hard to believe the things that happen to clients, or that the client would be detained, and tortured, and then go back to doing political activity.” (Pro bono/university clinic)