I signed up for the Skills I class at the Katharine and George Alexander Community Law Clinic (KGACLC) during my second year of law school. My chosen legal area at the Law Center was immigration. I was assigned the political asylum case of a man from Central America who had contracted HIV-AIDS. Because of previous persecution due to his indigenous ethnicity and the very negative view of persons perceived as homosexuals in his country of origin, we argued for asylum based on past and (fear of) future persecution, which would have been more acute due to his HIV-AIDS status. I interviewed the client, took his declaration, completed his application and prepared him for a hearing before an immigration judge. I presented the case before the judge at the end of 2004. The immigration court sided with my client, but unfortunately the government appealed the case. The government finally filed its appeal this past September. The new student assigned to the case, Angela Lytton, and I wrote and presented our reply to the government’s appeal in October 2005. It may be a few months before we know the outcome of this case. In the meantime, however, we have been able to obtain a work permit and a social security number for our client, who is grateful to live here without the fear of a sudden deportation.
My work at the Law Center has been truly invaluable for countless reasons. I learned so much about immigration, about assessing the needs of clients, about interviewing and preparing for cases. In fact, I believed in my work so much that upon my recent graduation from Santa Clara University School of Law, I accepted a position at Casa Cornelia (www.casacornelia.org) a non-profit public interest law firm in San Diego that provides legal services to indigent victims of human and civil rights violations. I could not have done this without the experience I gained at KGACLC. I highly recommend this experience to anyone going through the SCU law program.
Sue Lake
SCU School of Law Graduate
December, 2005
