About the Clinic

The clinic is co-directed by Lynn Marcus and Nina Rabin.

Lynn Marcus launched the Immigration Law Clinic as a part of the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project in January of 1995, and she continued as the Clinic's director when the University of Arizona became the program's home in 1997. Before then, Ms. Marcus worked for nearly every non-profit organization in Southern Arizona that provides legal services to immigrants, initially raising grant money to monitor conditions at INS detention facilities and to write and distribute self-help pamphlets for pro se immigrants in deportation proceedings. She has represented immigrants in immigration court, before the Board of Immigration Appeals, in federal district court, at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and before the U.S. Supreme Court. She chairs the Advisory Board of the Asylum Program of Arizona (a program of Catholic Social Service of Tucson), and has co-chaired the Immigration Section of the State Bar. She also teaches a refugee law seminar. Ms. Marcus graduated from NYU School of Law in 1989.

Nina Rabin is Director of the Bacon Immigration Law and Policy Program at the James E. Rogers College of Law. She also has a joint affiliation with the Southwest Institute of Research on Women at the University of Arizona, where she is Director of Border Research. Her work focuses on the impact of immigration and border policies on women's rights. She directs projects that provide direct legal services to low-wage immigrant women workers and women in immigration detention facilities. At the same time, her projects undertake policy research and advocacy that grow out of these direct services. Prior to her work in Arizona, Ms. Rabin clerked for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and practiced in a civil rights law firm in California. She graduated from Yale Law School in 2003.

Bertha Fresquez is the Clinic Administrator and provides invaluable assistance to students in all four in-house clinics, scheduling appointments, reserving rooms, and surmounting logistical challenges.