Ethical and Effective Representation of Unaccompanied Immigrant Minors in Domestic Violence-Based Asylum Cases

Julie Marzouk, Ethical and Effective Representation of Unaccompanied Immigrant Minors in Domestic Violence-Based Asylum Cases, 22 CLINICAL L. REV. 395 (2016)

Chapman University, Fowler Law Research Paper No. 16-03

51 Pages Posted: 5 Apr 2016

See all articles by Julie Marzouk

Julie Marzouk

Chapman University, The Dale E. Fowler School of Law

Date Written: 2016

Abstract

In the last two years more than 100,000 immigrant minors have flooded the southern border of the United States. Many of the children seeking refuge are domestic violence survivors whose governments cannot or will not protect them from familial assault, rape, and torture. Responding to the critical need for lawyers, the Family Protection Clinic at Chapman University Fowler School of Law represented four unaccompanied minors facing deportation. The children, siblings ranging in ages from thirteen to eighteen, fled Central America to escape extreme sexual and physical abuse at the hands of their father. This article focuses on specific opportunities and challenges encountered during the Clinic’s representation of the minors to shed light on the pedagogical possibilities presented by the legal and humanitarian crisis of child migration. The article seeks to engage clinicians and law students in the representation of immigrant children and attempts to articulate best practices for enhancing student learning. The purposeful lawyering of unaccompanied minors in domestic violence-based asylum cases is a meaningful vehicle to teach practical lawyering skills, professional ethics, and critical analysis of the current legal paradigm. In selecting these cases, clinicians will be afforded the opportunity to teach the law of asylum, respond to a refugee disaster, and train the next generation of effective social justice advocates.

Keywords: immigration, refugee, unaccompanied minors, human rights, children’s rights, women’s rights, domestic violence, gender, clinical pedagogy, law school clinic, legal ethics

Suggested Citation

Marzouk, Julie, Ethical and Effective Representation of Unaccompanied Immigrant Minors in Domestic Violence-Based Asylum Cases (2016). Julie Marzouk, Ethical and Effective Representation of Unaccompanied Immigrant Minors in Domestic Violence-Based Asylum Cases, 22 CLINICAL L. REV. 395 (2016), Chapman University, Fowler Law Research Paper No. 16-03, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2757869

Julie Marzouk (Contact Author)

Chapman University, The Dale E. Fowler School of Law ( email )

One University Drive
Orange, CA 92866-1099
United States

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