Asylum cases often take longer to resolve than anticipated and Safe Harbor students and graduates remain committed to seeking asylum for their clients no matter the length of time it takes. Ali Olsen ’13, Jill Kosinski ’13 and Maweza Razzaq ’13 secured asylum for their client after a hearing in immigration court in late September 2012. Their client, a young man from a French speaking West African country, initiated a political movement that called for the resignation of the country’s president. As a result, the man was threatened with death and brutally tortured by his country’s security forces. In another case, Cara Bilotta ’13, Heather Klein ’12, and Silpa Ramineni ’12 successfully represented their client in his asylum claim. These students represented a South American man who had dedicated his life to humanitarian work on behalf of Afro-Colombians.

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The hard work of Allison Bollert '13, Frank Luo '15, Svetlana Turova '13, James Hsui '12 and Hanna Morrill '13 recently resulted in a recommended grant of asylum for their client from a West African country. Their client had questioned the results of a government health initiative and was subsequently imprisoned on three occasions and horribly tortured. After leaving the country, his family was also targeted and his spouse also had to flee. This case spanned a summer and two semesters, beginning this past spring with representation by Turova, Hsui, and Morrill. Luo and Bollert followed up over the summer and filed the asylum application. This fall, Bollert finally prepared the client for his asylum interview. Asylum has been recommended on the strength of the client’s testimony, powerful medical and psychological affidavits confirming his torture, and on the comprehensive supporting evidence package assembled by the team. When the client's asylum becomes final, the Safe Harbor clinicians plan to seek derivative asylee status for our his spouse so she can rejoin him in safety in the U.S.

Four third-year students were chosen to be the first interns in a new New York State Bar Association Internship program, which only took students from Brooklyn Law School. The new interns are Jonathan Jacobs ’12, Yitzchak Kopel ’12, Inna Rudman, ’12, and Janine Stanisz ’12. 

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In the midst of finals on December 15, 2011, corporate and real estate clinic students Nandini Sur ’12 and Stephanie La Carrubba ’12 conducted a loan closing for a Harlem building. The $400,000 will be used to pay for a much-needed new elevator and for real estate tax arrears. The students, who began representing the co-op board in October under Professor Debbie Bechtel’s supervision, prepared board resolutions, resolved title issues, negotiated loan documents and educated the co-op board about the process. The tax arrears were paid immediately with the loan funds and the elevator work is expected to begin in January 2012.

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Students in the Advanced Condominum and Cooperative Clinic/Externship are working the Attorney General's Office to resolve real estate escrow disputes. Led by Professor Debra Bechtel and Adjunct Professor Ira Goldenberg, the students investigated, researched, and wrote decisions on backlogged cases in the Real Estate Finance Bureau. The clinic has been so successful in resolving cases that 2012 will be its final year at the Attorney General's Office.

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Professor Jonathan Askin was recently featured in "Made in Brooklyn," a vimeo created by Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, which supports tech startups and other companies in Brooklyn, and has a strong working relationship with the BLIP Clinic. The vimeo featured the founders and CEOs of successful Brooklyn-based companies and neighborhood organizations, exemplifying the center Brooklyn has become for entrepreneurs.

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Sayeda Abbas ’12, Dina Kleyman ’12, and Shannon Karam ’12 began working in the Safe Harbor Clinic in Spring 2011. They had no idea that it would take more than a year before their client won his asylum claim in New York Immigration Court. Their client was a young man from South Asia who was severely hurt by his father’s political enemies. The case was a complex—requiring overcoming a one year filing deadline, significant challenges in obtaining evidence from abroad and coordinating work with other counsel in a closely related case to which their case was ultimately consolidated. At the hearing, Kleyman conducted direct exam of their client so effectively that the judge didn’t need to hear the testimony of the other applicant.

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