Community Health Law Partnership Clinic

Georgia Law’s Community HeLP Clinic wins asylum case for long-time client

The University of Georgia School of Law’s Community Health Law Partnership Clinic recently secured asylum for a long-time client.

Under the supervision of Director & Hosch Professor Jason A. Cade and Staff Attorney Kristen Shepherd, Elizabeth M. “Beth” Boland (J.D. ’26) and third-year student Lauren R. Harter (J.D. ’25) represented the client at her most recent hearing in Arlington, Virginia, marking the end of nine years of advocacy. Clinic Paralegal Sarah Ehlers served as interpreter.   

Other students who worked on the case, which included litigation before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, Board of Immigration Appeals, and the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, were Carolina Mares (J.D. ’25), Hope Skypek (J.D. ’24), Anna T. Ratterman (J.D. ’24), Ariane C. “Ari” Williams (J.D. ’22), Thomas A. Evans (J.D. ’22) and Frederick King (J.D. ’21). 

Georgia Law Professor Cade featured in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Professor Jason A. Cade was recently featured in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution regarding the University of Georgia School of Law’s Community Health Law Partnership Clinic, (“Community HeLP Clinic”). The article titled “‘People are scared’: Latinos in Athens brace for immigration bills” was written by Lautaro Grinspan and centered around the legislative consequences of the recent loss of Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus, which put a spotlight on the growth of Athens’ Hispanic population. 

As stated in the article:

“The growth of the community has created significant demand for legal services to help with immigration cases. Those with limited means have only one pro-bono provider to turn to: a legal clinic at the University of Georgia School of Law, run by Professor Jason Cade.”

The Community HeLP Clinic focuses on interdisciplinary advocacy at the intersection of immigration status and health, including humanitarian and family-based immigration benefits, advocacy on behalf of noncitizen workers and detainees, and public education.

In reference to the Clinic within the article, Professor Cade said:

“We have the U.S. citizen children of the families that we serve very much in mind and are trying to do what we can to kind of reduce stress and stigma from their lives.”

Jason A. Cade is Associate Dean for Clinical Programs and Experiential Learning, J. Alton Hosch Professor of Law & Community Health Law Partnership Clinic Director. In addition to overseeing the law school’s 11 in-house clinics and 7 externship programs, Cade teaches immigration law courses and directs the school’s Community Health Law Partnership Clinic (Community HeLP), in which law students undertake an interdisciplinary approach to immigrants’ rights through individual client representation, litigation, and project-based advocacy before administrative agencies and federal courts.

To read the full article, please click here. To learn more about the Clinic, please click here.

Community HeLP Clinic receives pledge from Thorpe family

The University of Georgia School of Law has announced the creation of the Community Health Law Partnership Clinic Fund. The Thorpe family, which includes 2014 alumnus Benjamin W. “Ben” Thorpe and his mother Dr. Barbara Williams, has pledged $350,000 to enable the clinic to build on its tradition of interdisciplinary advocacy at the intersection of immigration status and health.

Under the direction of Associate Dean for Clinical Programs and Experiential Learning and J. Alton Hosch Associate Professor of Law Jason A. Cade, more than 100 individuals received legal services from the clinic last year. This included clients who were granted asylum, secured immigration relief, and those challenging the abuses they endured while in U.S. immigration detention.

The clinic’s first post-graduate fellow, Thomas Evans, will join the Community HeLP team in July, 2024. Evans is a 2022 magna cum laude graduate of the law school who participated in both the Community HeLP clinic and the Jane Wilson Family Justice Clinic and received the Ellen Jordan Award for Outstanding Public Interest Student. He is currently a staff attorney in the pro se office at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

To learn more about the Community HeLP Clinic and their advocacy work in immigration, click here.

UGA Law clinics continue efforts on behalf of immigrant women alleging abuse, retaliation while in ICE detention

The University of Georgia School of Law clinics’ faculty and students, including Jason A. Cade, Associate Dean for Clinical Programs and Experiential Learning, and Kristen Shepherd, Community Health Law Partnership Clinic Staff Attorney of the Community HeLP Clinic, have continued their advocacy on behalf of women clients who are challenging the abuses they endured while in U.S. immigration detention.

As previously posted UGA Law’s Community HeLP Clinic and First Amendment Clinic have pursued administrative, judicial, and advocacy paths in support of women who had been in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Irwin Detention Center, a privately run facility in south Georgia. While there, the women were subjected to nonconsensual medical procedures. Those who spoke out were met with retaliatory acts, including attempted or actual removal from the United States. For more than two years, the UGA Law clinics have represented these women in judicial and administrative proceedings.

The Community HeLP Clinic made significant progress in recent months on behalf of several women who experienced nonconsensual medical procedures while detained by ICE. These efforts included ongoing advocacy before a State Clemency Office, representation before immigration court on behalf of a woman who was unjustly deported, and successful advocacy before the Board of Immigration Appeals to reopen a third woman’s removal proceedings. The Clinic continues to represent these women and others in a putative class action lawsuit relevant to their allegations of medical abuse and retaliation. More information on these successes and engagements can be found here.

The Community HeLP Clinic is centered around interdisciplinary advocacy that focuses on immigration status and health, noncitizen workers and detainees, and public education. Along with overseeing the law school’s 11 in-house clinics and 7 externship programs, Cade directs the Clinic and aids law students in undertaking an interdisciplinary approach to immigrants’ rights through individual client representation, litigation, and project-based advocacy before administrative agencies and federal courts. Shepherd supervises students as they engage in a variety of services including interviewing and advising clients, conducting research and drafting legal documents, advocating in court proceedings and administrative hearings, and collaborating with legal and medical professionals in the community.