EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Jill (they/them, elle/ellx) is an immigration attorney licensed to practice in New York, Vermont, and the District of Vermont. Since joining VAAP as its first paid staff in January 2024, they have grown the organization to include several paid staff, eleven distinguished board members, dozens of legal and lay volunteers, and a growing newsletter subscriber base. They additionally leverage local service learning capacity by teaching introductory social work as a part-time lecturer at the University of Vermont. Before VAAP, they taught doctrinal and clinical immigration law and directed the Center for Justice Reform Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School. They previously practiced as a Vermont Poverty Law Fellow at Vermont Legal Aid and an Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow at Sanctuary for Families New York. Jill partners with Connecting Cultures–New England Survivors of Torture and Trauma (NESTT) as their legal director and also serves on the Vermont Treasurer’s Federal Transition Task Force, the Vermont Judiciary’s Access to Justice Coalition, the Vermont Bar Association’s Immigration Law Section, regional and national committees of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and the Vermont Queer Legal Professionals’ co-founding leadership team. The National LGBTQ+ Bar Association honored Jill as one of 2023’s Top 40 Lawyers Under 40. Download their CV.

IMMIGRANT JUSTICE CORPS FELLOW

Emma (she/her, ella) is a 2023 graduate of American University Washington College of Law and practiced with California’s Immigration Center for Women and Children. During law school, Emma worked with immigration firms and nonprofits in the DC area with a focus on affirmative and defensive asylum casework, VAWA, U-Visa, and SIV applications, and humanitarian parole. She was a student attorney at the American University Washington College of Law Immigrant Justice Clinic where she worked on asylum defense and naturalization cases. Her work focuses on assisting unaccompanied minors in removal proceedings as part of IJC’s unaccompanied children program. She is particularly excited to help fill this much needed service void in Vermont, a state in which she has family and has spent a lot of time, and holds dear.

IMMIGRANT JUSTICE CORPS FELLOW

Cam (she/her, ella) is a 2024 graduate of Vermont Law and Graduate School and is honored to join Vermont’s inaugural class of IJC Fellows. During law school, Cam worked as a law clerk for Legal Services Vermont, and provided direct immigration services and community advocacy to as a student clinician at the Center for Justice Reform Clinic. She played a part in reinstating her school’s National Lawyers Guild chapter and has been active in other movement advocacy projects on campus and beyond. Cameron has always prioritized community-driven work, which leads her to IJC. She is honored to join VAAP as their Unaccompanied Children Program Justice Fellow and is eager to work and grow alongside the amazing team!

CONTRACT STAFF ATTORNEY

Leah (she/her) is an attorney licensed to practice in Vermont. She is joining VAAP from May through November 2025 on a part-time, consulting basis to drive VAAP's Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) practice in Vermont Family and Probate Courts to help incubate her vision for a queer-competent family law firm for Vermont.  Following her first career as a professional actor, she pursued a law degree to have a more tangible impact on justice for queer and trans communities. She is a 2024 graduate of Vermont Law and Graduate School's J.D. and Restorative Justice programs. As a law student and clinician, her work focused on queer asylum and youth immigration relief, queer family law and policy, and advocating for housing and victims' rights. Most recently, she provided national and state-based legal support to LGBTQ+ people across the country through her work with the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR). With gratitude to indigenous wisdom, she supports restorative practices as an alternative to legal systems when possible.

CONTRACT PARALEGAL

Bio coming soon!

CONTRACT PARALEGAL

Bio coming soon!

CONTRACT COMPTROLLER

Jamie (they/them) is a licensed CPA in Vermont and Pennsylvania with 9 years of experience in various accounting and finance roles. Currently, Jamie serves as the Director of Finance (CFO) for a network of cooperative grocery stores and auto service centers with annual gross revenues of $90M. Jamie also currently serves as Treasurer of the Board of Directors for two Vermont based nonprofit organizations. Jamie enjoys serving clients in various industries in their hours outside of their full-time job directing finance for the Hanover Co-op Food Stores. https://www.jesfinconsulting.com/about.html

COMING OCTOBER ‘25

Catalina (she/her, ella) is a graduating lawyer from Vermont Law and Graduate School, class of 2025, and an incoming Katzmann Justice Fellow at the Immigrant Justice Corps, class of 2025-27. Originally from New Jersey, Catalina now calls Vermont home. Her passion for immigration rights stems from her undergraduate studies in World Religion and Arabic as well as her own Colombian community and roots. In law school, Catalina worked as a Peggy Browning Fund Fellow at Migrant Justice/Justicia Migrante and as a student clinician and intake specialist at the Center for Justice Reform Clinic. Catalina hopes her experience as a VAAP legal fellow will allow her to expand her work protecting the rights of immigrant workers facing injustice while extending her advocacy to safeguard the vulnerable undocumented community in Vermont.

COMING NOVEMBER ‘25

Bria (she/her, ella) is a graduating Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow and former Winooski school district educator who is moving back to Vermont to join VAAP’s growing legal practice. She joins VAAP from the Chacón Center for Immigrant Justice in Maryland and you can read more about her IJC fellowship experience here: https://justicecorps.org/news/a-zealous-advocate-bria-leigh-yazic/.