Southwestern Law School, in collaboration with the Los Angeles LGBT Center, is launching an asylum law clinic to better prepare future lawyers to provide legal assistance to asylum seekers from the LGBTQIA+ community.
“The Asylum Law Clinic is a huge step forward in training law students to effectively advocate for underrepresented groups,” said Andrea Ramos, director of Southwestern’s Immigration Law Clinic. “Our curriculum emphasizes both the knowledge and compassion necessary for impactful legal representation and advocacy.”
John Heilman, a Southwest professor who has long connected students with the Los Angeles LGBT Center's legal services department, began collaborating with Tess Feldman and others at the center.
“Our primary goal is to empower students and integrate trauma-informed community advocacy into their practice,” said Feldman, a center attorney and instructor at the Asylum Law Clinic. “By the end of the program, students will be prepared to represent asylum seekers before immigration judges and asylum officers throughout the United States.”
The clinic opens in the fall with four students who will help with asylum applications and other legal issues, such as work authorization documents, travel authorizations, DACA applications, and coordinating status applications for people who have been granted asylum.