Name of Host Organization: Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago

City, State: Chicago, IL

Issue area: Immigrant Populations/Minorities

Sponsor: Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Veena Iyer works on the Legal Assistance Project for Students. Specifically, the Project services low-income students enrolled in adult education and English as a second language (ESL) courses at Truman College – a local community college that is the largest provider of free ESL classes in Illinois. Veena provides a range of legal services including direct representation, legal education and policy advocacy. The Project addresses a number of issues – including immigration, family, housing and employment– to meet the complex needs of immigrant communities. Veena's dedication to advocating for immigrants developed out of her work at the Indo-American Center and the Midwest Immigrant and Human Rights Center. While working at these agencies, she learned that spouses, landlords and employers often exploit low-income immigrants by taking advantage of their tenuous immigration status, limited English proficiency and lack of knowledge about the American legal system. During law school, Veena participated in clinical and internship opportunities that exposed her to several aspects of poverty law. During her first summer of law school, she worked on post-9/11 litigation at the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York. During her second summer, she worked on immigration cases at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago and on policy issues at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. During her second and third years of law school, Veena served as a Student Attorney and Training Director for the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, where she represented clients in family, unemployment and social security matters. After law school, Veena worked as a law clerk for Judge Matthew Kennelly of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.