GW LAW CLINICS ADVOCATING FOR
LGBTQ+ INDIVIDUALS WORLDWIDE
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In anticipation of Transgender Awareness Week, we are proud to highlight the work of our
student attorneys supporting clients who have faced discrimination or threats of violence as a result of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Below are three of our many active advocacy matters with global impacts. All client names and the names of their family members have been changed to respect their confidentiality.
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The Public Justice Advocacy Clinic makes a difference in the lives of transgender individuals through name change cases |
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The Public Justice Advocacy Clinic student attorneys manage a wide variety of cases each semester and gain valuable experience representing clients in Freedom of Information Act, wage and hour, and unemployment compensation cases. This semester, all 12 student attorneys have also received at least one name change client, the majority of whom are transgender individuals from Central and South America who escaped persecution in their home countries prior to coming to the United States. They have either received or are seeking asylum.
One client, Ana, sat across from her student attorneys, Iman Naieem (JD '22) and R.J. Hernandez (JD '22), in a clinic conference room in anticipation of the start of her name change process. With the assistance of the interpreter seated next to her, Ana began to share her story so that her student attorneys could prepare her application for a name change.
Ana is a transgender woman who came to the United States to escape the treatment she received in Honduras where transgender individuals are subject to harassment and violence. She explained to the student attorneys that she had always had feelings of being a woman inside but “did not act on them out of respect for her family.” Then, last year, she decided to live authentically and approached her father to get his blessing to officially transition into being a woman. Ana described her father’s reply as warm assurance that her happiness was more important than anything.
The student attorneys continued their client interview, asking a series of questions to complete Ana’s name change application. They advised Ana that they were preparing the application for her signature before filing it in D.C. Superior Court. As everyone stood to say goodbye, Ana shared how much the application truly meant to her.
“Thank you so much for doing this work. It is so important,” said Ana. “I was close to taking my life not long ago because I couldn’t take all the harassment I was experiencing. There are many more like me and I hope you will help as many as you can. What you are doing is more than changing a name on a piece of paper. What you are doing is giving people like me the dignity to live the life we have always dreamed of and deserve. I can’t thank you enough.”
Ana is just one of many clients who will benefit from student attorneys’ work in the GW Law Clinics.
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The GW Immigration Clinic represents a Nigerian man seeking asylum after a violent attack in Nigeria in connection with his sexual orientation and gender identity |
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In September, the GW Law Immigration Clinic represented Babatunde during his interview at the Arlington Asylum Office. Babatunde, a gay rights activist from Nigeria, was viciously attacked and ostracized by his friends and family.
“Relative to other people, I used to have a sense of security, but this [attack] ruined every sense of security I had,” said Babatunde.
There are presently no laws, constitutional provisions, or regulations that criminalize hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics in Nigeria.
As a part of Babatunde’s activism, he established a large online platform to highlight the LGBTQ+ communities in Africa. Babatunde shared with his asylum officer that as a gay man who continues his activism, he fears being jailed in Nigeria, or worse, killed in connection with the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act of 2013 (the Act). In addition to establishing anti-gay marriage restrictions, the Act also penalizes anyone who supports the registration, operation, and sustenance of gay clubs, societies, organizations, processions, or meetings with imprisonment for 14 years. A decision on Babatunde’s application will be issued in the coming days.
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The Civil and Human Rights Law Clinic represents a transgender woman experiencing discrimination in the workplace due to her sexual orientation and gender identity |
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Student attorneys in the Civil and Human Rights Law Clinic are representing multiple clients bringing claims before the D.C. Office of Human Rights this semester. In one case, the student attorneys represented a transgender client experiencing discrimination in her workplace due to her gender identity and expression. This client matter required the student attorneys to quickly put into practice what they learned in their seminar about client interviewing, counseling, creating a fact development plan, and completing the necessary filings for their clients.
The student attorneys worked on this case while also preparing for a mediation at the D.C. Office of Human Rights in a different case with claims of sexual harassment and workplace discrimination on the basis of sex. As such, the student attorneys have learned how critical each fact is in guiding the theory and approach for each case.
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GW LAW CHARGES FORWARD IN ITS COMMITMENT TO CLINIC EXPANSION |
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The Criminal Defense and Justice Clinic Launched in Fall 2021 |
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Professor Lula Hagos (left) and Friedman Fellow IIan Friedmann-Grunstein (right)
CDJC student attorneys have appeared at multiple detention hearings where they cross-examined arresting officers and argued for their clients’ releases this semester. Despite their best efforts, the student attorneys’ clients were ultimately held in custody; however, the student attorneys continue to formulate community release plans by working closely with the Clinic Social Worker, Bonnie L. McIntyre, PhD Candidate, MSW, LGSW.
Student attorneys, Fatima Khan (JD '22), Melissa Rodriguez (JD '22), Jaylla Brown (JD '22) and Jensen Matsuda (JD '22), have met with Ms. McIntyre and their clients at the D.C. Central Detention Facility and evaluated treatment options that they can use to argue for immediate release and mitigate possible sentences. Working with an in-house social worker continues to enhance the student attorneys’ skill development, improve client outcomes, and provide unique opportunities for collaborative instruction.
One student attorney, Cameron F. Costello (JD '22), shared these thoughts on CDJC: "As someone who wants to be a public defender, I think that being able to do this clinic will help immensely with my future cases and clients because I am learning best practices and how to support clients in a supervised setting and with a limited caseload. ... I would recommend this clinic to anyone interested in criminal law or criminal defense work."
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Two Credit Civil Access to Justice Clinic-Family Division to Launch Spring 2022 |
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The GW Clinics recently announced the newest clinical offering: the Civil Access to Justice Clinic–Family Division, which will be offered in Spring 2022, and co-taught by Clinical Dean Laurie S. Kohn and Professor Caroline Rogus.
The two-credit pilot clinic will use the clinical pedagogy employed by GW Law’s capstone clinics but will allow student attorneys to develop their practical skills with a reduced time investment. GW Law created this clinical option recognizing that not all students are able to devote the credits necessary to enroll in a capstone clinic and seeking to provide the professional development, lawyering training, and identity formation opportunities afforded by clinics to as many GW Law students as possible. In future semesters, the Civil Access to Justice Clinic will add more divisions related to other areas of civil practice.
In the pilot Family Division, student attorneys will work with family law pro se litigants. Students will interview, consult with, and support litigants as they seek to navigate the Family Court system in D.C. and will enter into limited representation agreements with litigants who need advocacy in more complex matters. Finally, student attorneys will also act as mediators in Family Court for pro se litigants seeking quick resolution of their cases through the court’s two-hour shuttle mediations program.
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GW LAW CLINIC ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT |
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Progressive Scholar and Clinic Alum Judge Elizabeth L. Young (’04) was recently appointed an Assistant Chief Immigration Judge in the Executive Office for Immigration Review of the U.S. Department of Justice. |
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Janice Salas (left), Judge Elizabeth L. Young (middle), and Professor Alberto Benitez (right)
The GW Law Clinical Program is thrilled to share that Clinic Alum Judge Elizabeth L. Young (’04) was recently appointed as an Assistant Chief Immigration Judge in the Executive Office for Immigration Review of the U.S. Department of Justice.
While at GW Law, Judge Young was a student in Professor Alberto Benitez’s Immigration Law I course, a student attorney in the Immigration Clinic, and later served as the Interim Director of the Immigration Clinic during Professor Benitez’s leave.
Notably, Judge Young has maintained a 72 percent asylum rate grant, despite the anti-asylum immigration landscape which in recent years drove a once higher than 50 percent nationwide grant rate down to a low rate of 30 percent. More information about Judge Young’s appointment can be found in this press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
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CLINICAL SCHOLARS & FACULTY INFLUENCE |
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Director, Health Rights Law Clinic
Professor Jackson participated in Howard Law Journal’s 18th Wiley A. Branton Symposium entitled “Health Equity: Developments and Challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemic.” In her presentation, “Bright Lines Cast Dark Shadows,” she described the harms flowing from the “bright-line” income tests used to determine eligibility for people enrolled in Medicaid, which disproportionately affect people of color and reinforce both implicit and discriminatory biases. Professor Jackson identified procedural solutions already used in other public programs— and during the COVID-19 crisis—that could profoundly improve the health of participants in the Medicaid program, without disrupting program administration. Professor Jackson’s paper will be published in the Howard Law Journal in 2022.
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Director, Small Business and Community Economic Development Clinic
Professor Jones was a speaker at a panel on the topic “Removing Silos: Community Economic Development, Racial Justice, and Legal Services” at the Philanthropy Ohio conference in October 2021. The session examined ways to address our communities’ most pressing and emerging needs.
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Director, Domestic Violence Project
National Family Violence Law Center Professor of Clinical Law
Professor Meier, as of October 1, 2021, is the National Family Violence Law Center Professor of Clinical Law. The named professorship endows the center’s director position in perpetuity. Professor Meier’s research was recently highlighted in The Guardian article “‘Women are routinely discredited’: How courts fail mothers and children who have survived abuse,” which revealed that of 1,137 cases where mothers alleged domestic violence, courts credited the claims in just 517 cases. Professor Meier was also a presenter at the Children Advocacy Centers of Virginia’s annual conference in September 2021, and she served as a panelist for the Institute on Violence, Abuse & Trauma annual conference and the American Bar Association Family Law Section Annual Meeting in Orlando. Professor Meier served as the moderator of a virtual panel on a documentary for Allen v. Farrow: Parental Alienation Syndrome and Family Courts which is available on YouTube.
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Director, Prisoner and Reentry Clinic
Professor Steinberg’s article "The Gender of Gideon," (with Kathryn A. Sabbeth) is set for publication in the UCLA Law Review, and is available on SSRN. The article was recently reviewed in the Courts Law Journal of Things We Like (Jotwell), a faculty-run publication sponsored by the University of Miami School of Law, and quoted extensively in an amicus brief written by the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts to the Massachusetts Supreme Court in support of the appointment of counsel to both parties in a civil domestic violence case. Professor Steinberg also has another article set for publication, "Judges in Lawyerless Courts" in the Georgetown Law Journal (with Anna E. Carpenter, Colleen F. Shanahan, and Alyx Mark), which is available here. Additionally, Professor Steinberg’s article published in the Fordham Law Review entitled "Judges and the Deregulation of the Lawyer’s Monopoly" (with Anna E. Carpenter, Colleen F. Shanahan, and Alyx Mark) was also reviewed in Jotwell and is available on SSRN. |
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In September 2021, the GW Law Clinics launched a LinkedIn company page. Through this page, current clinic students, alumni, and members of the community can see GW Law Clinic news, upcoming events, and job postings in real-time. Additionally, a GW Law Clinic LinkedIn group was created for current clinic students and clinic alumni to build relationships, host reunions in their city related to their field, exchange information about jobs, housing, other opportunities, and to and learn more about the clinic programs or initiatives. If you are a clinic alumni or current student attorney interested in joining please provide the name of the clinic you’ve been affiliated with and the year of your involvement along with your requests to join. You may request to join here.
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