Erin Hernandez '08 Argues Immigration Case before Ninth Circuit

Erin Hernandez '08, a recipient of the 2008 Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Award, argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on September 1, winning praise for her performance from observers including Professor Carter C. White, director of the UC Davis School of Law Civil Rights Clinic.

Hernandez, now an attorney with the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation (CRLAF), had worked on the case as a law student with the UC Davis School of Law Immigration Law Clinic, and therefore agreed to argue before the Ninth Circuit.  The CRLAF and the Immigration Clinic are co-counsel on the case, which involves an asylum claim. 

Professor Amagda Pérez, Director of the Immigration Law Clinic and Executive Director of CRLAF, said that special credit was due to Dean Kevin R. Johnson, Professor James F. Smith, and King Hall alumni Daniel Torres '02 and Kirsten Hill '04, who acted as mock judges in a full dress rehearsal for the argument.

"Erin was very well-prepared to answer all the questions the Ninth Circuit panel gave her, and the mock judges did a great job of anticipating the questions," said Pérez.