The legal landscape in America has been tumultuous for immigrants, their friends, families, and communities. This year, we have seen communities torn apart by militant and, at times, illegal action – people pulled from their homes, their jobs, their schools, or even the courthouse itself. It has been a battle for immigration attorneys to stay on top of both the changes in the law and the ever mounting need for their support as more and more people face or fear being removed from their lives. Navigating a foreign legal system is always hard, but it has become treacherous in ever developing ways. This panel will give you insight into what the field of immigration law looks like today and opportunities in which you can provide assistance.

Learn more about the wide-ranging legal issues immigrants face and what pro bono opportunities are available in D.C. and across the country to help address these needs at our 2026 Summer Forum Panel on Immigration and Human Rights Panel. Register here to check out this panel at the Summer Forum!

Nirupa Narayan will moderate this panel. Nirupa is the Vice President, Pro Bono Partnerships, Global at Kids in Need of Defense (KIND). In that role, she works with KIND’s operations in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America, and directs KIND’s pro bono program globally.  Nirupa develops, maintains, and deepens partnerships with law firms, corporations, bar associations, and law schools whose attorneys represent thousands of unaccompanied or separated children in their immigration proceedings. She also implements pro bono policies and best practices across the organization.

Prior to joining KIND, Nirupa was a long-time immigration lawyer at several legal services providers, served in public diplomacy with the U.S. Department of State, and was a Pro Bono Legal Advisor for Justice Without Borders.

Our panel includes:

Stacy Kim, Commission on Immigration, American Bar Association

Stacy Kim is a Staff Attorney at the ABA Commission on Immigration (COI) where she focuses on resource development and pro bono placement for Dedicated Docket cases and Afghan arrivals seeking humanitarian relief.

Stacy received her undergraduate and Master’s in Teaching degrees from the University of Virginia. She received her Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center where she focused her studies on education and child welfare law. Stacy began her legal career as a Justice Catalyst Fellow at Legal Aid Justice Center in northern Virginia as part of its immigrant justice program. She then worked as a staff attorney, and later, a supervising attorney, on the unaccompanied children’s team at Michigan Immigrant Rights Center before joining COI.

Shanti Martin Brown, Ayuda

Shanti is a Supervising Attorney at Ayuda in Washington, DC, where she represents immigrants in both affirmative immigration applications and deportation defense with a focus on immigrant victims of crime and trafficking, including preparation and filing of cutting-edge U Visa and T Visa applications. She also represents immigrants seeking Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, asylum, relief under VAWA, family petitions, consular processing, and naturalizations. Before joining Ayuda in 2014, Shanti represented unaccompanied immigrant children in removal proceedings for over four years. Shanti graduated from American University Washington College of Law in May 2009. Shanti holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, where she studied Spanish and Justice, Peace & Conflict Studies.

Iman Saad, Bread for the City

Iman is a Supervising Immigration Attorney at Bread for the City. Iman joined Bread for the City last year, adding to her rich experience supporting immigrants, advocating for better systems, and teaching the next generation of legal advocates. Before Bread, Iman was a Clinical Teaching Fellow and Supervising Attorney at Georgetown University Law Center where she supervised law students in a semester-long clinic that represents asylum seekers in affirmative and defensive immigration proceedings. Prior to that she worked as a Practitioner in Residence as a part of the New Jersey Detention and Deportation Defense Initiative, where she provided pro bono representation and legal services to immigrants in federal immigration detention. Iman also represented clients in removal hearings before the Immigration Courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Iman received a BA in Political Science, Journalism, Pre-Law from The College of New Jersey and her J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law School. She then went on to receive her LLM from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Rachel Strong, Morgan Lewis 

Rachel Strong is senior pro bono counsel at Morgan Lewis. In this position, Rachel works to advance the quality of pro bono opportunities for Morgan Lewis lawyers, the effectiveness and impact of the firm’s pro bono representations, and the breadth of participation in the firm’s extensive pro bono program. She works with Morgan Lewis’s other pro bono professionals to manage the day-to-day administration of the pro bono practice. Rachel also maintains her own pro bono practice. She has counseled clients extensively on immigration, family law, and domestic violence matters.

Jill Workman, Immigration Law Unit, Legal Aid DC

Jill is a Staff Attorney in the Immigration Law Unit at Legal Aid DC. Jill engages in direct client representation in priority immigration areas and helps with local and federal advocacy efforts related to the protection and advancement of immigrants’ rights.

Jill received her B.A. From the University of South Florida and her combined J.D.-I.L.A in International Law from Cornell Law School. While in law school, Jill was a student attorney in the Death Penalty Clinic, helping women on death row domestically and abroad. While working on the Afghan Humanitarian Parole assistance project, she was also selected as a Salzburg Cutler Fellow, focusing on humanitarian law, conflict, and refugees.

We look forward to seeing you at this panel! Register here to get your ticket to the keynote and the substantive panels. Join the conversation using #SumFo26!