Two Yale Law School Students Receive Immigrant Justice Corps Fellowships

Grace Kao ’15 and Kathryn Madison ’15 are among the 25 Immigrant Justice Corps Fellows for 2015. The Justice Fellows are lawyers who will represent immigrants fighting deportation and seeking citizenship.

Launched in 2014, Immigrant Justice Corps is the country’s first fellowship program dedicated to meeting the growing need for high-quality legal assistance for immigrants. Judge Robert Katzmann ’80 of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit founded Immigrant Justice Corps in collaboration with the Robin Hood Foundation with seed funding from Robin Hood and the JPB Foundation. Immigrant Justice Corps is a response to the research of the Study Group on Immigrant Representation, which found that immigrants with a lawyer were nearly six times more likely to win their cases than those without. The study also revealed that immigrants often fall prey to fraudulent legal providers who charge thousands of dollars and mishandle cases with disastrous outcomes.

“By providing quality representation, this remarkable group of fellows will benefit all concerned with the administration of justice—courts and litigants alike, and most profoundly, immigrants and their families,” said Judge Katzmann. “For thousands of immigrants, lack of resources will no longer impede access to justice. Because of Immigrant Justice Corps’ fellows, immigrants with worthy claims will have a far better chance to live the American dream.”

The Fellows will begin their intensive training course on August 31, 2015, and then report to nonprofit placements throughout New York and New Jersey for the two years of their fellowship.

Read more about Yale Law School students who have received public interest fellowships.