Cardozo School of Law alumna Susan Cohen ’85 has pledged $250,000 to establish the Susan J. Cohen Immigration Justice Clinic Case Fund for the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic, the school has announced.
The Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic, directed by Professors Peter Markowitz and Lindsay Nash, provides quality legal representation for immigrants facing deportation.
Students in the clinic work with immigrants who face deportation in cases before federal immigration authorities and the U.S. Court of Appeals. The clinic also works with organizations to improve immigration law, policy and advocacy projects.
The Susan J. Cohen fund will support students as they travel out of the tri-state area where there are fewer pro-bono attorneys. It will also finance translation costs and an emergency fund to cover urgent necessities and unexpected costs to support clients.
“The Susan J. Cohen Immigration Justice Clinic Case Fund for the Immigration Justice Clinic will be a game changer for our clients and will dramatically expand the impact of our clinic,” Markowitz said. “Susan has been a leader fighting for immigrants her entire career. This fund will allow our students the opportunity to grow into the next generation of immigrant rights leaders.”
A nationally recognized immigration lawyer, Cohen has litigated high stakes immigration and human rights cases for her clients and has devoted her professional life to securing legal status and citizenship for deserving immigrants from all parts of the world and all walks of life. For decades Cohen has also provided pro bono representation to asylum seekers and others in need of humanitarian protection.
“I could not be more proud to support the life-saving and pathbreaking immigration work done by Cardozo’s world-class Immigration Justice Clinic; to provide enhanced opportunities for Cardozo students to advocate for their clients, and to aid imperiled clients with their most basic human needs,” Cohen said
Since its inception in 2008, the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic has made national headlines for its advocacy work in immigration reform and in defending indigent immigrants from deportation. As part of this work, clinic students helped launch the nation’s first public defender system for detained immigrants; protected thousands of New Yorkers from being funneled into immigration detention each year by drafting one of the first detainer discretion laws in the country; and obtained far-reaching victories in court, including through class action and Second Circuit litigation. The clinic has also made an important impact by training the next generation of immigrants’ rights advocates, hundreds of whom have gone on to work in the field.