Equal Justice Works Announces Ahilan T. Arulanantham as the Recipient of the 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award

Ahilan T. Arulanantham is the Professor from Practice and Faculty Co-Director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law. 

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 17, 2024—Equal Justice Works, the nation’s largest facilitator of opportunities in public interest law, announced that Ahilan T. Arulanantham, Professor from Practice and Faculty Co-Director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy (CILP) at the UCLA School of Law, will be honored as the 2024 recipient of the Equal Justice Works Distinguished Alumni Award at the organization’s Scales of Justice event on October 15, 2024. Ahilan was a class of 2000 Equal Justice Works Fellow whose work at the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project focused on protecting the rights of detained immigrants seeking asylum. 

“Ahilan is a vivid example of how Equal Justice Works Fellowships develop and launch public service leaders. In the twenty years after his Fellowship, Ahilan not only has advocated effectively for communities in need, he also is educating the next generation of leaders,” said Verna Williams, CEO of Equal Justice Works. “We are looking forward to uplifting his achievements and his commitment to broadening equal access to justice at our 2024 Scales of Justice event.”  

The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes an Equal Justice Works alum who has made outstanding contributions as a leader in public interest law; has distinguished themselves through creating lasting impact in the communities they serve; embodies the organizational values of passion, community, service, opportunity, and equal access to justice; and reflects the transformative power of an Equal Justice Works Fellowship. 

“I am truly honored to receive this award from Equal Justice Works,” said Ahilan. “I will always be grateful to Equal Justice Works for giving me the opportunity to start my career doing immigrants’ rights advocacy. The Fellowship truly changed my life, opening up new vistas that would have been impossible without it. Later, Equal Justice Works Fellows I had the privilege of supervising played a crucial role in some of the most meaningful work of my career on behalf of vulnerable immigrants facing deportation without the assistance of counsel. I will forever be grateful for what Equal Justice Works has meant to me personally, and to the broader immigrants’ rights movement.”   

“Our Fellow alumni are an incredible group of more than 2,700 public service leaders. Through the Distinguished Alumni Award, we are pleased to recognize Ahilan’s commitment to serving immigrant communities, advocacy for equal access to justice, and public interest leadership,” said Lynbea Toombs, the director of alumni relations at Equal Justice Works.  

Since his Fellowship, Ahilan has continued to advocate alongside immigrant communities. He has successfully litigated many cases involving immigrants’ rights, including Franco-Gonzalez v. Holder, the first case to establish a federal right to appointed counsel for any group of immigrants. Ahilan has argued three times before the United States Supreme Court, most recently in FBI v. Fazaga on behalf of Americans of the Muslim faith whom the federal government targeted for surveillance because of their religion. He has also testified before the United States Congress and taught at both the University of Chicago Law School and at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. 

Before joining UCLA’s faculty, Ahilan was Senior Counsel at the ACLU in Los Angeles, where he worked for nearly twenty years. Ahilan has also worked as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in El Paso, Texas. In 2007 and 2013, California Lawyer Magazine’s named him one of the Lawyers of the Year for immigrants’ rights; he also has been listed as one of the Daily Journal’s Top 100 Lawyers in California repeatedly over the last decade. In 2016, Ahilan was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, also known as a “Genius Grant.” 

Click here for more information about the Scales of Justice. Click here to learn more about Ahilan. 

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About Equal Justice Works 

Equal Justice Works is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that creates opportunities for lawyers to transform their passion for equal justice into a lifelong commitment to public service. As the nation’s largest facilitator of opportunities in public interest law, Equal Justice Works brings together an extensive network of law students, lawyers, nonprofit legal aid organizations, and supporters to promote a lifelong commitment to public service and equal justice. 

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