Victoria Braga: My name is Victoria Braga, JD '14, and I participated in the Immigration Clinic during my 3L year. Following law school, I accepted a position through the Attorney General's Honors Program clerking in the Boston Immigration Court. After my clerkship, I will work in the Appellate Section of the DOJ's Office of Immigration Litigation (OIL). My experience in the Clinic familiarized me with the immigration court system and gave me direct exposure to the types of cases I have worked on during my clerkship and will continue to work on at OIL. Immigration Clinic work helped me learn immigration law while also learning how to be a lawyer. It additionally taught me the benefits of hard work, preparation, collegiality, and collaboration, which are skills I hope to utilize throughout my legal career. Based on my experience, I highly recommend participating in the Immigration Clinic to all current and prospective GW Law students.
Anam Rahman: My name is Anam Rahman, JD '12, and I participated in the Immigration Clinic after my 1L year. It was an invaluable experience that paved the way for my career as an immigration attorney. At the time I interned with the Clinic, I had minimal exposure to immigration law beyond my own family’s immigration process. The Clinic offered me constructive experience over a broad array of substantive immigration matters ranging from asylum to naturalization as well as with their underlying procedural and administrative processes. I greatly enjoyed the direct experience that the Clinic provided me, as I was personally responsible for my own docket of cases under the guidance of Professor Benitez. As such, I communicated with Clinic clients on a daily basis, represented clients in interviews and at hearings, and prepared applications for relief and pleadings in Immigration Court on their behalf. This kind of first-hand clinical experience added a unique layer to my legal education at GW. I am now an associate at the law firm Calderón Seguin PLC. I primarily practice immigration law and directly represent individuals before Immigration Courts, the Board of Immigration Appeals, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and other government agencies.
Paulina Vera: My name is Paulina Vera, JD '15, and I am currently working as the only immigration staff attorney at the non-profit, CASA (formerly CASA de Maryland). My experience with the GW Law Immigration Clinic has helped me tremendously in my career, especially given that I am a fairly new attorney. While Professor Benitez and Jonathan Bialosky maintain an open door policy and have regular check-ins with students, they really allow their student-attorneys to take ownership of their cases. As such, I learned a lot in clinic about case strategy development and was able to hone my client communication skills. I also learned about the practical aspects of case management, such as the importance of maintaining client files; I still use many parts of the Immigration Clinic's filing system in my own practice. Finally, I gained two extraordinary mentors in Professor Benitez and Jonathan Bialosky. I reach out to them for advice on my cases to this day!
