![](./feb62019_files/S(1).gif) |
Greetings,
Last week we hosted our annual Board of Visitors meeting at the college. The members of the Board of Visitors are local, state, and national leaders in the legal profession, including alums and lawyers educated at other law schools.
The annual meeting offers us a chance to discuss some of the college's cutting-edge initiatives and activities and to hear from influential leaders about how the profession is changing. The Board of Visitors members help us to hone our vision for the future of Arizona Law.
|
With members of the College of Law's Board of Visitors and current students.
|
As part of their visit, the Board of Visitors members have lunch with first-year students and participate in exceptionally valuable and timely mock interviews with our students.
Until the footnotes, Marc
|
|
Annual Board of Visitors Meeting and Career Connections
|
Our annual Board of Visitors meeting brings together attorneys, judges, business leaders, and prominent professionals to hear about the latest developments at the College of Law.
This year, members of the board heard from Professor Andrew Woods about our TechLaw initiative, designed to position the college as a leader within legal education on the intersection of law and technology. Building on the momentum of our first annual TechLaw @ Arizona Law conference in September, Professor Woods shared how we are implementing strategies like the creation of new TechLaw fellowships to recruit and develop lawyers with STEM backgrounds.
Associate Dean for Research and Innovation Chris Robertson detailed our Health Law Program and the partnerships we have with UA Health Sciences -- showcasing our new graduate certificate programs and our team members in Washington, DC, who are building connections with the Food and Drug Administration.
Professor Stacy Butler highlighted the Innovation for Justice initiative, which aims to address access to justice through design and system problem-solving. Courses in the program have included a partnership with BYU law school to identify systemic issues in eviction proceedings and, currently, a course examining domestic violence representation in collaboration with State Bar President Jeff Willis.
Discussing employment and JD student success, Assistant Dean for Career Development Karen Kowalski described employment numbers, bar preparation and passage, and steps the college is taking to ensure students are practice-ready. (Learn more about Career Development at Arizona Law.)
A major function of the Board of Visitors is to connect our students with mentors. Board members helped 66 of our students with practice interviews, just as the spring interviewing season is gearing up. They also sat down with first-year students over lunch to share advice with students on the cusp of their legal careers.
We are grateful for the time and service that the board gives to the college and the Arizona Law community.
Annual Recruiting Events
Coming up soon is the Sonoran Desert Public Sector Career Fair, February 21 in Tucson and February 22 in Phoenix. Employers and students are invited to participate in Midday Table Talks, where they can connect informally between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
|
![](./feb62019_files/S(1).gif) |
![](./feb62019_files/S(1).gif) |
Immigration Law Students' Efforts Succeed for Their Clients
![](./feb62019_files/S.gif) |
| ![](./feb62019_files/S.gif) |
Professor Lynn Marcus directs the Immigration Law Clinic at Arizona Law.
|
Arizona Law professor Lynn Marcus, director of the college's Immigration Law Clinic, recently shared news of a successful outcome on behalf of a client and her family.
Apart from of the outcome of a specific case, all of our clinic experiences are designed to help students acquire skills in high-employment areas, and learn to become zealous advocates for their clients.
In the fall of 2016, the case of "Dalia" was referred to the clinic by colleagues at Southern Arizona Legal Aid. Dalia was an undocumented woman who had come to the United States 20 years before with her baby to flee sexual and physical violence from her family of origin and rejoin her husband, the baby's father. The couple would later have three more children, all U.S. citizens, but they had no means of obtaining lawful status in the U.S.
Dalia was also preyed upon by her in-laws, who forced her to work long hours as their domestic servant, subjecting her to physical and emotional abuse for years. Out of fear, she kept their actions hidden from her husband, who himself worked long hours outside the home. Only after seeking out counseling services for survivors of sexual abuse was Dalia emboldened to seek legal help and to report her in-laws' actions to the police.
Dalia's immigration case was handled by Camilo Rodriguez and Lauren Beall, both Class of 2018, during the spring of 2017. They conducted multiple interviews to obtain details about Dalia's traumatic experiences, drafted declarations and legal arguments, completed application forms, and assembled a large packet of supporting documents for a "T visa," which protects certain survivors of human trafficking, their spouses, and their children under 21. When the visas for Dalia, her husband, and their now 21-year-old son were approved, Camilo returned to the clinic to deliver the news to the clients, vicariously experiencing their shock, relief, and sheer joy.
We are proud of Camilo and Lauren's work on behalf of their clients, and proud of the clinic's role in training effective advocates.
|
The members of our national Board of Visitors embody the careers that our current students are just beginning to imagine. They are leaders in practice, government and civil society, in settings large and small. Through their work and their actions they remind students of the hopes and goals that drew our JD students to study law in the first place.
The exchange between these leaders and our students during the first-year lunch is a collective one, over the course of just a few hours, but the models of practice and leadership our board members represent are a lodestar for our students every day and for years to come.
|
|
|
|
![](./feb62019_files/S(1).gif) |
|