Lauren DesRosiers

Hosted by New York City Anti-Violence Project
Sponsored by Bloomberg LP, Proskauer Rose LLP
Service location New York, New York
Law school The University of Michigan Law School
Issue area Immigrant Populations, LGBTQ+ Rights
Fellowship class year 2018
Program Design Your Own Fellowship

The Project

Lauren served undocumented LGBTQ survivors of hate violence in New York City by improving access to holistic legal services to combat alienation from legal systems.

Incidents of hate violence against LGBTQ communities have dramatically increased over the past several years and are coterminous with increased violence against immigrants. Undocumented LGBTQ survivors of hate violence live at a critical nexus of underserved communities and are at a high risk of estrangement from legal systems. This further marginalizes LGBTQ immigrants, thereby exacerbating the effects of violence. Lauren’s project increased access to holistic legal services through outreach and direct representation to combat the effects of violence experienced by undocumented LGBTQ hate violence survivors.

Fellowship Highlights

During the two-year Fellowship period, Lauren:

Trained over 150 pro bono attorneys on working with LGBTQ and HIV-affected immigrant survivors of hate violence;
Counseled or represented over LGBTQ immigrant survivors of hate violence in immigration and related matters on over 150 cases;
Conducted outreach and intakes through community partners in over 20 clinics to provide information on rights surrounding immigration to community members;
Presented to over 400 people on various presentations and trainings related to working with LGBTQ and HIV-affected immigrant survivors of hate violence; and
Developed materials on best practices for working with LGBTQ immigrant survivors of hate violence.

Next Steps

Fellowing her Fellowship, Lauren has remained at the New York City Anti-Violence Project, where she continues to serve LGBTQ and HIV-affected survivors of violence.