Immigration Justice Clinic
About the Clinic
The Immigration Justice Clinic (IJC) at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University is one of the Law School’s flagship clinical programs, enabling Student Attorneys to provide free representation to immigrants and force federal authorities to obey their own law. Pursuant to a Student Practice Order issued by the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, upper-level law students directly represent and advise clients under the close supervision of Pace Law faculty immigration experts. The Immigration Justice Clinic has successfully prepared more than 130 students for careers in immigration law, private firms, independent law offices, and nonprofit agencies. Several IJC alums have received the prestigious Immigrant Justice Corps post-graduate fellowship and been honored as “Rising Star Lawyers” and “Forty Under Forty” business leaders.
What We Do
The Immigration Justice Clinic serves indigent people living, working, or detained in the Hudson Valley or in the five boroughs. Free advice and representation are offered to eligible immigrants fighting their removal from the United States and/or seeking to regularize their legal status through family ties, employment, asylum, or pursuant to specific federal categories such as Violence Against Women, Special Immigrant Juveniles, Diversity Visa, Anti-Trafficking, Temporary Protected Status, the U Visa, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
IJC Student Attorneys represent immigrants facing deportation (now called “removal”) through their appearances in the Immigration Courts of New York City and those located in numerous correctional facilities, notably Fishkill and Ulster. All advice and representation is provided by IJC Student Attorneys authorized by New York State and federal courts and immigration authorities to practice law while supervised by a law professor.
Immigration Justice Clinic Client Eligibility Standard
For information on the President’s Administrative Relief for Immigrants, please go to Administrative Relief Resource Center. Additional information is posted at the Immigration Justice Clinic Facebook page.
DO NOT WORRY – there is no deadline for your application at this time. Start saving money for the government application fees. (John Jay Legal Services does not charge any legal fees if you are eligible for our representation.)
Para informacion acerca de la Accion Ejecutiva de Remedios para Inmigrantes, por favor vaya a Administrative Relief Resource Center. Se encuentra información adicional en la página de Facebook de la Clínica de Justicia en Inmigración.
NO SE PREOCUPE – por ahora no hay fecha de vencimiento para someter una aplicación. Puede comenzar a ahorrar suficiente dinero para cubrir los costos de la aplicación del gobierno. (John Jay Legal Services no cobra honorarios legales si usted es elegible para recibir nuestros servicios.)
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The Immigration Justice Clinic (“the Clinic”) of John Jay Legal Services, Inc. (JJLS), a not-for-profit organization located at Pace University School of Law (Pace), provides assistance to immigrants who are unable to obtain legal representation because they cannot afford to pay enough, given the complexity and difficulty of their legal problems. Law students, working under the supervision of a law school professor, represent immigrants seeking to regularize their status or to defend against removal by the United States government. There is no charge for the legal services provided by the Clinic.
JJLS and Pace are educational institutions with limited resources and can provide representation to only a small number of individuals at any given time. To qualify, you must meet one of these conditions:
- Your income is no greater than is required for your basic needs and you own no major assets (e.g., vacation homes; other non-retirement investments) except your home and your car; or
- You and your family are or could be classified by a federal, state or local entitlement program as “legally indigent” or “non-indigent poor”; or
- You or your family are eligible, without regard to income, under federal, state or local entitlement programs, to receive legal assistance from legal services organizations; or
- In cases of special hardship, where a potential client is unable to afford to pay a fee normal for the nature and extent of professional services required in the matter for which legal representation is requested, JJLS may take into consideration such factors as the client’s income, assets, current indebtedness, health condition, institutional confinement, unemployment, and unemployability; the difficulty, novelty and unpopularity of the legal issues; the importance of the rights that would be protected by the legal representation; and the estimated cost of the legal services.
In certain circumstances, JJLS will make an exception and consider representing immigrants who do not meet any of the criteria listed above. If you have not already contacted other attorneys or a lawyer referral service, we may ask you to do so.
If you believe that you meet the JJLS guidelines and you wish to consider representation by a law student, please complete the Inquiry Record (PDF) and send (mail or fax) it to the Pace Immigration Justice Clinic at John Jay Legal Services, Inc. If it appears that your case may be suitable for student representation, a law student or staff member will call you to learn more about your case, and, if appropriate, to arrange an interview at the Law School. After that meeting, if both you and the Clinic agree that the Clinic may appropriately represent you in this matter, you and the Clinic will enter into an agreement authorizing the Clinic to represent you. If based on the Inquiry Record, your problem does not appear suitable for the Clinic, you will be notified by letter or phone call. Whenever possible, we will provide advice about alternative sources of representation.
Although JJLS does not charge for our work, clients must pay all government fees and costs, other than legal fees, necessary to obtain an immigration remedy. The clients must pay these fees directly to the appropriate court or agency when required.
The Clinic lacks the resources to accept every eligible case. A decision not to offer representation in your case is not a decision about the merit of your particular legal position.
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Immigration Justice Clinic De Elegibilidad Para Ser Clientes
El programa de Immigration Justice Clinic (“la Clínica”) de John Jay Legal Services, Inc. (JJLS) es una organización no-lucrativa ubicada en la Facultad de Derecho de Pace, que provee asistencia a los inmigrantes quienes no pueden obtener representación legal por que carecen de los recursos económicos suficientes para pagar la cantidad necesaria, dado lo complicado y lo difícil de sus problemas legales. Los estudiantes de derecho, bajo la supervisión de un miembro de la facultad, representan a inmigrantes en busca de regularizar su estado o defenderse contra removida por el gobierno de los Estados Unidos. No se cobra por los servicios legales proveídos por la Clínica.
JJLS y Pace son instituciones con limitados recursos y solo pueden proveer representación a un pequeño numero de individuos en dicho momento.
JJLS tiene los siguientes criterios para elegibilidad:
- Sus entradas no pueden ser mayor de las requeridas para sus necesidades básicas y usted no puede tener bienes mayores (por ejemplo: casas de veranear; otras inversiones que no sean de retiro) con excepción de su hogar, y su auto; o
- Usted y su familia son, o pueden, ser clasificados por un programa de derecho federal, estatal o local como “legalmente indigente” o “pobre no-indigente”; o
- Usted o su familia son elegibles, independiente de entradas, bajo programas de derecho federales, estatales o locales para recibir asistencia local de organizaciones de servicios legales; o
- Bajo ciertas circunstancias, cuando un posible cliente no puede pagar una cuota que es normal para la clase y el extenso de los servicios profesionales requeridos en la cuestión por la cual representación legal esta siendo pedida, JJLS puede tomar en consideración tales factores como las entradas del cliente, bienes, deudas corrientes, condición de salud, confinamiento en una institución, desempleo y el no poder ser empleado; la dificultad, novedad y la impopularidad de la cuestión legal; la importancia de los derechos que pueden ser protegidos por la representación legal; y el costo estimado de los servicios legales.
En ciertas circunstancias, JJLS puede hacer una excepción y considerar representar a inmigrantes quienes no satisfacen ninguno de los criterios enlistado arriba. Si usted no se ha puesto en contacto con otros abogados, o un servicio de referencias legales, nosotros podemos pedirle a usted que lo haga.
Si usted cree que satisface los requisitos de JJLS y usted desea considerar representación por estudiantes, por favor complete el cuestionario (PDF) y envíelo (por correo o fax), dirigido a Pace Immigration Justice Clinic, en John Jay Legal Services, Inc. Si su caso parece ser apropiado para recibir representación de estudiantes, un estudiante de derecho o alguna persona de JJLS lo llamara para enterarse mas acerca de su caso, y para hacer arreglos para una entrevista en Pace. Después de esa reunión, si usted y la Clínica están de acuerdo que la Clínica puede representarlo apropiadamente en este asunto, usted y la Clínica entraran en un acuerdo autorizando a la Clínica para que lo represente. Si basado en el cuestionario su asunto no parece ser adecuado para la Clínica, usted será notificado por carta. Cuando sea posible, nosotros le daremos asesoramiento acerca de fuentes alternativas de representación.
Aunque JJLS no cobra por sus servicios, los clientes tienen que pagar todas las cuotas y costos, aparte de los honorarios, necesarios para obtener remedios de inmigración. Los clientes deben pagar esos costos directamente a la corte o agencia cuando sean requeridos.
La Clínica carece de recursos para aceptar a todos los casos que sean elegibles. La decisión de no ofrecerle representación en su caso no es una decisión acerca del merito de su posición legal en especifico.
Community Partners
Since federally-funded legal services offices are not allowed to help most immigrants, our region offers few other sources of free immigration legal assistance. We work most closely with the Empire Justice Center. Clients are also referred to the IJC by community organizations that advocate for immigrants, like Neighbors Link in Mount Kisco, the Community Resource Center in Mamaroneck, and the El Centro Hispano in White Plains. We are long-term members of the New York Immigration Coalition, the Hudson Valley Community Coalition, and the Westchester Peace and Action Coalition. The IJC also collaborates with the Pace Law School Immigration Law Society and Pace Immigration Law Practitioners, a loose association of graduates in local immigration law practice.
Become an IJC Student Attorney
During interviews and counseling sessions, IJC Student Attorneys diagnose clients’ legal needs, generate alternative legal options and corresponding fact investigation plans for each possible remedy, and explain the relative risks and potential benefits to clients. Then they prepare and submit the relevant applications with the evidence to substantiate these claims. Student Attorneys analyze the need for expert opinions and, when appropriate, recruit and work with experts. They organize the documentary and testimonial evidence and draft and argue motions and briefs on substantive, evidentiary and procedural issues in proceedings before the Immigration Court, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and the United States Circuit Court of Appeals. Videotaped, critiqued simulation is used extensively to prepare for these appearances.
Recognition of a client’s non-immigration-related legal needs, which may affect the progress and outcome of the immigration case, is an important IJC responsibility. IJC Student Attorneys have represented clients in Medicaid, unemployment, food stamps, and workers’ compensation hearings, as well as in New York State Family Court, Small Claims Court and the Consumer Affairs Department (seeking recovery of stolen wages and redress for fraudulent immigration services), and various Criminal Courts. Recently they succeeded in negotiating a full and unconditional pardon by the Governor that will enable a deported client to return home. We take a holistic approach to each client’s overall situation and thoroughly explore all options.
With respect to each phase of representation, IJC Student Attorneys use the planning > doing > reflecting model of experiential education, comparing the actual outcomes of their decisions with what they had anticipated in their strategic analysis. They also examine the impact on the law and legal systems, and on lawyers and adjudicators, of the broader social phenomena that are the context of immigration law. Student Attorneys learn how to conduct “know your rights” community education programs in several languages, and how to engage in legislative advocacy at County, State, and national levels, including the annual National Day of Action in Washington, DC of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). Active involvement of Student Attorneys in programs and committees of the New York Chapter of AILA, as well as other bar associations, is strongly encouraged. IJC Student Attorneys most recently have played important roles in the passage of the Westchester County Immigrant Protection Act and in advocating for the creation of a specialized immigrant affairs unit in the Westchester District Attorney’s Office.
The IJC begins with a summer assignment and, before fall semester classes start, four days of “boot camp:” intensive all-day training to get “up to speed” on basic immigration law and practice. The IJC curriculum includes significant background reading, written and in-class exercises, full-scale lawyering simulations, and “case rounds” where we plan for and reflect on task performance in actual cases. It addresses topics such as advanced client interviewing and counseling; witness preparation, especially of experts, oral examination of witnesses, and oral argument; working effectively with interpreters and translators; and drafting and persuasive presentation of documentary evidence and argument. All these skills are exercised with careful attention to the implications of a multilingual, multicultural environment for lawyering proficiency. Finally, the spring seminar is largely devoted to thoughtful exploration of career decisions and various models of law practice, with special emphasis on the problems and possibilities of small/solo independent law offices.
Student schedules must accommodate occasional appearances in Immigration Courts in Manhattan and at Fishkill, NY, and visits to prisons, all about one hour by car from the Law School. Travel expenses are reimbursed according to John Jay Legal Services policy and available resources.
Permission of the professor, based upon application and interview, is required. Immigration Law and/or Asylum and Refugee Law, Evidence, Professional Responsibility, Trial Advocacy, Administrative Law, and Lawyering are recommended. Preference is given to third- and fourth-year students.