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Liam Schwartz Interviews Rusty DeMoss

January 09, 2013 (1 min read)

"...LS: In the past, you have credited Deborah Anker of Harvard Law School with providing the "inspiring spark" of your calling.  What did you find so inspiring about Professor Anker and her immigration law class?

Rev. DeMoss: Towards the end of my 1L year, a friend of mine in my section said, “Let’s take this immigration law class next year.  It meets at a good time, and it has a clinical component that meets our clinical requirement.”  Sounded good to me, and intriguing, as it did sound kind of exotic, although I really had no idea what it was all about.  The first day of class, though, I knew.  I knew why I went to law school after seminary.  I had found my calling, even within the ordained ministry.  Immigration law had it all:  administrative law, constitutional law, corporate law, criminal law, family law, governmental law, international law.  It was exotic, and deeply meaningful, as the policies and rationales of our country, throughout our history, have affected the lives and stories of myriads from around the world who have given literally everything to find freedom and a new start here in our land.  Professor Anker taught with an unparalleled zeal, and a passion, and a compassion for those so yearning to be free.  She was (is!) brilliant, captivating and fun.  The clinical component, then in Jamaica Plain, made the classroom “theory” come to life, as we interviewed clients and assisted with cases.  Their futures, their lives, their families all depended on the outcome; and they all had a story, inevitably heart wrenching and compelling.  I was hooked, for life. ..." - Consular Corner, forthcoming.

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