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Jayashri Srikantiah; Director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic and Associate Professor of Law, Stanford Law School [by Regan Morris] The Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Stanford Law School has been helping both student attorneys and immigrant clients since it started in 2004. LawCrossing speaks with the clinic’s director, Jayashri Srikantiah, about her career and how she went about building the program. Srikantiah says starting the Immigrants
students really want to interact with those
“After being an engineer for a couple of
Rights Clinic at Stanford Law School was like
issues as part of their law school experience
years, I realized that I wasn’t doing as much
starting her own little law firm. The former
as well.”
writing and wasn’t interacting as much in public policy as I would like in my career. So
ACLU attorney canvassed the San Francisco Bay Area for ideas and organizations to work
Srikantiah immigrated to the United States
I went to law school, and it ended up being a
with.
from India when she was four and grew up in
good choice for me,” she said. “Engineering
an immigrant neighborhood in San Jose. She
wasn’t a perfect fit for me. Although I
“I had to be entrepreneurial about setting
said her personal experiences influenced her
obviously was intellectually and analytically
up projects and setting up cases and getting
decision to pursue a career in immigrants’
very much challenged as an engineer, they
clients and setting up relationships with
rights, as well as the fact she viewed the
don’t do that much writing, and you definitely
groups in the Bay Area, who would then send
group as especially marginalized and in need
don’t interact that much with overall public
us cases and projects,” she said.
of legal help.
policy in terms of what you read in the news,
“But I also had to be entrepreneurial within the laws school—promoting the clinic, telling the students that this is something fun that they should try, and creating a buzz around the clinic. That entrepreneurial feeling was there in the beginning, and it’s still there to an extent, because this is only the third semester,” she said. Srikantiah, an engineer with computer chip maker Intel before becoming an attorney, said she spoke with immigrants’ rights attorneys in the area before deciding on the focus of the clinic: the direct representation of immigrants in deportation proceedings and cases involving immigrant survivors
“In our legal system, immigrants have very few rights; and they’re not entitled to lawyers, to free attorneys, the way that criminal defendants are,” she said. “And as a consequence, many, many people are unrepresented; and as a community, because they don’t vote, they don’t have as much of a voice.” The clinic also provides outreach educational programs for immigrants. Students involved in the clinic work on all aspects of a case: interviewing clients and witnesses, investigating facts, writing pleadings, developing case strategy, conducting legal research, and presenting cases.
what is going on in the world, how do you want to influence social change. It doesn’t happen as easily as part of your career.” Srikantiah initially thought she would practice intellectual property law to work with her engineering background, and she did briefly work in the field. But the pull to work in public interest and have a voice in social change was strong. She started working in immigrants’ rights as a staff attorney with the ACLU, where she worked from 1998 to 2004. Srikantiah graduated from New York University Law School, magna cum
laude, in 1996 and clerked for The Honorable David Thompson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Diego. She then
of domestic violence. The clinic works on
Srikantiah said it was incredibly gratifying
spent a year as a litigation associate with
individual cases and bigger advocacy issues
to see the students argue in court for the
Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk &
and policy on behalf of groups of immigrants.
first time and said that most students find
Rabkin in San Francisco.
it very exciting. She said they spend months “It’s a time when immigration always seems
preparing for a courtroom appearance so the
As a teacher, Srikantiah says there are
to be in the newspapers, with Congress
student attorneys are prepared to handle the
often priceless moments when she sees
taking up the idea of comprehensive
case.
her students understanding a concept for
immigration reform and President Bush
the first time. She said there was a rapid
mentioning it in his State of the Union
As an engineer, Srikantiah worked on Intel’s
learning curve involved in teaching and she
address,” she said. “This is something on
first Pentium team from 1991-1993. She says
urges her students to try new things and
people’s minds. So it is also a time when
she enjoyed engineering but wanted more.
experiment while they are in law school.
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LAWCROSSING
THE LARGEST COLLECTION OF LEGAL JOBS ON EARTH
LAW STAR
www.lawcrossing.com
1. 800.973.1177
“The advice I give most frequently is that
and opportunities in law school is one way to
“In doing all of this, one of the things I’ve
students should experiment in law school
open a lot of doors for yourself later on.”
learned is that you have to constantly change
to see what kind of things they like and
your approach and way of doing things
not focus on classes that they think they
Srikantiah says she takes her own advice
because different students are different
should take or internships that they think
while running the clinic, because each
and different semesters are different and
they should take or things they think they
semester is different and she has to quickly
different cases are different, so things are
should do,” she said. “But also look into
adapt to new challenges. She was approached
constantly changing,” she said. “And it’s that
classes in new fields in new areas that they
by Stanford over lunch one day to help create
ability to be flexible that really makes you
might be interested in, because you never
the clinic, which proves that dream jobs can
have a chance of succeeding.”
really know where your career might take
come knocking on your door—if you’ve built
you and being exposed to different options
up an expertise in the area.
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