Advancing Justice | AAJC Announces New NAPABA Law Foundation Community Law Fellow Hannah Woerner
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC (Advancing Justice | AAJC) welcomes today a new National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Law Foundation (NLF) Community Law Fellow, Hannah Woerner.
“Hannah comes with the background knowledge and experience to meet the challenges of working in the current immigration advocacy climate,” said John C. Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC. “The NAPABA Law Foundation Community Law Fellowship is an excellent training ground for young attorneys and we are excited to have Hannah join our Advancing Justice | AAJC team. Advancing Justice | AAJC thanks the NAPABA Law Foundation for this opportunity.”
As the NLF Community Law Fellow, Woerner will advocate for Asian American immigrants and their families in the face of escalating immigration enforcement through policy advocacy, community education, and direct representation. Woerner will join Director of Immigration Advocacy, Megan Essaheb, in providing direct representation to detained immigrants, educating our AAPI organizational partners and community members on immigration policy and practices, and advocating for due process and a more humane enforcement system.
"Our two-year NLF Community Law Fellowship allows NLF to advance access to the legal system and to make an impact on Asian Pacific American communities," said Amy Lin Meyerson, President of NLF. "We are pleased that Hannah's Fellowship will enable the Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC to provide greater legal services in immigration advocacy."
During law school, Woerner worked as a student attorney with the UCLA Immigrant Rights Clinic and the UCLA Tribal Legal Development Clinic. She interned with the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Northwest Justice Project, the ACLU of Southern California, and the Honorable Jacqueline H. Nguyen of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
“As the premier advocacy organization for AAPI communities in our nation’s capital, I have long admired how Advancing Justice | AAJC is uniquely situated to respond to developments in immigration law and policy the work of,” said Woerner. “The work they do is extraordinary but their contributions to the fight on immigration has been immeasurable in this last year.”
Woerner received her J.D. from UCLA School of Law, where she specialized in the David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy and the Critical Race Studies Program. Woerner was Discourse Editor for the UCLA Law Review. Before law school, she taught English in Germany on a Fulbright Teaching Fellowship. In addition to her law degree, Woerner received her B.A. in Political Science from New College of Florida.
The NLF Community Law Fellowship Program was launched in 2004 to address the need for attorneys working on behalf of the Asian Pacific American populations. Recognizing that many obstacles prevent committed attorneys from practicing public interest law, including the shortage of entry-level jobs, the NLF Community Law Fellowship provides an opportunity for a new attorney to gain substantive experience at a nonprofit national or community-based organization.
Woerner’s fellowship with Advancing Justice | AAJC will span the next two years from September 2017 through August 2019.
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