Penn State Law Clinic Launches Third Circuit Immigration Blog for Practitioners

"A new blog by clinic students at Penn State Law is designed to help practitioners stay up-to-date on the latest Third Circuit immigration decisions. A collaboration between the Penn State Center for Immigrants’ Rights and thePennsylvania Immigration Resource Center (PIRC), the blog covers precedential and select non-precedential Third Circuit decisions. It is available at 3rdcirimmigrationblog.blogspot.com.

Clinic students write content for the blog. Matt Tamul ’14 played a major role in designing, developing, and managing the blog since the beginning of the project. “The blog furthers one of the clinic’s goals of producing work that assists immigration attorneys in their day-to-day practice,” said Tamul.

The PIRC Detained Programs Managing Attorney Amara M. Riley said, "The Third Circuit Immigration Blog is a great resource for advocates and practitioners alike. Unlike any other blog, it allows readers to stay current with Third Circuit developments through clear summaries of both precedential and non-precedential cases organized according to a variety of topics relevant to immigration law."

“The collaboration with PIRC has been invaluable because in addition to providing much needed feedback and advice, PIRC has brought the perspective of a practitioner to the table which has helped shaped the blog into a platform that can best meet the needs of attorneys,” said clinic director Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, who added that the Center partnered with PIRC because PIRC brings a wealth of legal knowledge, is situated in the Third Circuit, and has worked for several years with the Center.

"We are very pleased, as part of our ongoing partnership with the Center for Immigrants’ Rights, to participate in the establishment of this Third Circuit Immigration blog. This collaboration supports PIRC’s efforts to provide pro bono attorneys with the tools and resources needed to effectively represent vulnerable immigrants," said PIRC Executive Director Mary Weaver.

The Center for Immigrants’ Rights is an immigration policy clinic at Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law. On behalf of local and national organizations, students produce white papers, practitioner toolkits, and primers on current immigration issues. Since the Center’s establishment in 2008, clients have included the American Bar Association(ABA), the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), theAmerican Immigration Council (AIC), Human Rights First, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), the National Guestworker Alliance (NGA), the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), the National Immigration Project (NLGNIP), and thePennsylvania Immigration Resource Center (PIRC), among others.

For more information about PIRC, contact executive director, Mary Weaver at mweaver@pirclaw.org or at (717) 600-4099 ext. 207." - Penn State Law, Apr. 8, 2014.