Join the UDC Latino Law Students Association and the UDC National Lawyers Guild to discuss a rising issue within Immigration Law.



Can An Undocumented Immigrant Become A Lawyer?

The DREAM Act, DREAM Lawyers and the Future of Immigration Policy & Law

Wednesday, February 27,2013
5:30-6:45 pm

(Catered reception to follow program)



UDC David A. Clarke School of Law

4340 Connecticut Ave, NW

Bldg 52  Room 518



Co- Sponsored by:

Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute

Hispanic National Bar Association

Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia



Moderator: Fernando Rivero, Hispanic Bar Association



SPEAKERS:

Cesar Vargas, J.D.  Applicant to the New York Bar

Professor Kristina Campbell, UDC Immigration Clinic- Lead Attorney



SPEAKERS BIO:



Cesar Vargas is a Staten Islander who came to the U.S. from Mexico illegally as a 5-year-old. He is requesting New York State to let him practice as a Bar-certified attorney.  Cesar Vargas, 29, graduated from CUNY School of Law with a 3.7 grade-point average and passed New York bar exam on his first try. In October, he mailed his application to be admitted to the Bar. The decision is up to a committee at the New York State Supreme Court's Appellate Division in Brooklyn. If accepted, Vargas would be the state's – and maybe the country's – first lawyer without legal immigration status.

But he may have to argue his case in court first.

He once dreamed of becoming a military lawyer or a prosecutor. Now,he's thinking of starting his own firm. He has joined with other undocumented law graduates, known as the DREAM Bar Association.



See link to interview with Cesar here:

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/46979745/#50676678



Professor Campbell is a career public interest attorney, specializing

in civil litigation on behalf of immigrants and low-wage workers.

Kristina began her career in 2002 as a Staff Attorney with the

statewide farmworker program of the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society

in Charlottesville, Virginia, and in 2004 she joined the statewide

farmworker program at Community Legal Services in Phoenix, Arizona as

a Staff Attorney. From 2006 to 2009, Kristina was a Staff Attorney

with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF)

in Los Angeles, California, where she engaged in impact immigrants'

rights litigation in Arizona and California.



Fernando Rivero has been an Assistant Attorney General at

the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia since

2005. Mr. Rivero currently practices civil prosecution in the Attorney

General's Civil Enforcement Section, representing approximately a

dozen government agencies and enforcing their legal mandates through

litigation in Superior Court, the Office of Administrative Hearings,

and various Boards and Commissions. Prior to the Attorney General's

Office, Mr. Rivero was Chief of Staff and Legislative Counsel to

Councilmember Jim Graham in the Council of the District of Columbia.

He received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1998. He

has been a member of the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of

Columbia since the late 1990s, currently serving as President-Elect.

He chairs the Hispanic National Bar Association's DREAM Initiative

Task Force.  He has served also on the Board of the non-profit Spanish

Education Development Center.