By Adelina Janiak
My involvement with the Human Rights and Immigration Law Project [HRILP] coincided with the beginning of my 2L year, when Professor Haynes announced a volunteer opportunity for a student interested in immigration law to collaborate with a recent New England Law | Boston alumnus on an asylum case. I was apprehensive at first, because I wasn’t sure how I could to contribute to the case, given my limited knowledge of asylum law.
However, my reservations were quickly put to rest by Professor Haynes, and Marlee Cowan (the alumnus who was handling the case), by their contextualizing of the legal issues involved and the faith they put in my burgeoning legal skills. The client was a young woman, a human rights activist from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who was kidnapped, raped, and ultimately miraculously escaped to the United States. As traumatized as she was by her experiences, her strength inspired me to fully devote my time to this case. We spent many months preparing the affirmative asylum case and we were ultimately successful. I will never forget the satisfaction I felt when the news came that her asylum had been granted.
What seemed like a one-time volunteer opportunity had turned into a long-term internship at Community Legal Services and Counseling Center (CLSACC), a non-profit organization that provides legal assistance to asylum-seekers in the Boston area, and then into a Lawyering Process clinic.
The more time and effort I invested into this work, the more challenging the assignments I was given, including direct contact with clients, whom I advised about their asylum eligibility, as well as preparing cases to be heard in Immigration Court. This invaluable experience has allowed me to develop trusting relationships with my clients, so that they can discuss their lives and fears with me. I’ve worked with rape and torture victims, people who have been persecuted by their governments or rebel groups, those who are simply hoping for a second chance in life, one that is safe and free from persecution.
When I began my work with the HRILP and CLSACC, I was interpreting from French to enable communication between the client and the attorney. Since then I’ve conducted extensive legal research (for individual cases, and other HRILP projects as Prof. Haynes’ research assistant), written legal memoranda and motions for Immigration Court on a variety of topics, and prepared expert and lay witnesses for testimony in Court.
The hands-on skills I developed by working on a multitude of asylum cases and their multi-faceted aspects, as well as other projects sponsored by the HRILP, have led me to realize that this field of law is legally interesting, evolving, personally satisfying, and ultimately immensely rewarding. I know this is not an easy field of law – due to its legal complexities and emotionally challenging life stories – but the effort is worthwhile in the end. When I took the project on, I didn’t know where my first experience with the HRILP would lead, but I am glad I did, as it has led me to realize that I truly enjoy refugee and asylum law, and most of all, the people who practice it daily.
I would encourage students to become involved in any ongoing activity of the HRILP, because it provides an opportunity to directly apply the law to real cases – and those cases represent people who uniquely need the legal assistance of students and attorneys who help them navigate the complex field of asylum law, to reach rewarding, often life-saving outcomes. It has led me to hope that I can turn this passion into a career.
