Zaid G. Hatoum

Zaid G. Hatoum is a Visiting Clinical Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School and the Director of the Global Screenings and Casework Program at the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP). At IRAP, he provides direct legal services and representation to clients around the world in different forms of international humanitarian protection and supervises other staff.

Before joining IRAP, Hatoum worked as an Immigration & Removal Defense Attorney at HIAS Pennsylvania, where he represented clients seeking different kinds of relief from deportation before immigration courts. He also represented torture survivors and refugees before the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in various cases, such as asylum, green cards, citizenship, family-based and refugee/asylee petitions, consular processing, temporary protected status, and other humanitarian relief. Hatoum also led the Reception and Placement team, responsible for resettling refugees in the Philadelphia area. Previously, he worked at the International Organization for Migration in Damascus, Syria, preparing refugee cases for the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. In 2013, Hatoum received the International Law Award for outstanding human rights achievement from the Philadelphia Bar Association.