For Immediate Release
October 4, 2011
Contact:? Steve Ralls
(202) 347-7007 / sralls@immigrationequality.org
Clement Lee, Tom Steel Fellowship Recipient, Joins Immigration Equality Legal Team
New York, NY ? Immigration Equality and The Pride Law Fund announced today that Clement Lee, recipient of The Tom Steel Fellowship, has joined the organization?s legal team.? Lee, a recent graduate of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, will serve as a legal fellow and work with Immigration Equality?s acclaimed legal staff on issues related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) asylum and detention.? Lee previously served as an Immigration Equality legal intern in 2010.
?We are excited to welcome Clement back to our legal team,? said Victoria Neilson, the organization?s legal director.? ?Calls to Immigration Equality?s legal hotline have increased significantly this year, and Clement?s knowledge of diverse immigrant cultures will be an asset to our work. We are grateful to The Pride Law Fund and The Tom Steel Fellowship for making Clement?s fellowship possible. It could not come at a more critical time.?
The Steel Fellowship is the first of its kind anywhere in the country. The Fellowship provides funding for recent law school graduates to work on an innovative, public interest law project serving the LGBT community. The Fellowship ensures that unmet legal needs are recognized and prioritized and that the next generation of legal advocates for the LGBT community develops the critical skills necessary to secure future civil rights victories.? The Fellowship is presented in conjunction with The Pride Law Fund, which promotes the legal rights of the LGBT community by funding legal services and projects, and by sponsoring education and outreach initiatives.
Founded in 1994, Immigration Equality is the country?s premiere legal aid and advocacy organization working on behalf of LGBT immigrants and their families. The organization runs a pro bono asylum project to assist LGBT and HIV-positive asylum seekers to find free or low-cost legal representation and maintains a list of LGBT/HIV-friendly private immigration attorneys to provide legal representation for those seeking help. The organization also provides technical assistance to attorneys who are working on sexual orientation, transgender identity, or HIV status-based asylum applications, or other immigration applications where the client?s LGBT or HIV-positive identity is at issue in the case. In 2010, Immigration Equality?s legal team won a record 101 asylum cases for LGBT individuals fleeing persecution from abroad.
For more information, visit www.immigrationequality.org and www.pridelawfund.org.
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Immigration Equality is a national organization fighting for equality under U.S. immigration law for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and HIV-positive individuals.
Pride Law Fund?promotes the legal rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, and people living with HIV and AIDS, by funding summer fellowships for law students and year-long fellowships for recent law school graduates working at nonprofit organizations on special projects, education and outreach and providing legal services. ?The 2010-2011 Tom Steel Fellowship is funded, in part, by generous donations from Fenwick & West LLP and Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom. www.pridelawfund.org
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