VAAP welcomes new director
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: New Legal Provider Welcomes First Executive Director
BURLINGTON, VT: The Vermont Asylum Assistance Project (VAAP) announced today the hiring of Attorney Jill Martin Diaz as its first Executive Director. VAAP is a statewide organization that recruits, trains, and mentors lawyers and lay advocates to provide humanitarian status seekers in Vermont with no-cost legal services and support. With Jill’s distinguished legal and leadership background, they bring a wealth of experience to the role.
“In Jill Martin Diaz, VAAP is thrilled to have secured for its first full-time Executive Director one of the most well-respected, dynamic, and successful immigration lawyers in the field,” said VAAP Board President, Attorney Erin Jacobsen. “Jill is a leader with a decade of experience, not only in immigration law but also in poverty law, restorative justice, and legal education. Jill's vision for VAAP includes helping individuals and families to achieve permanent safety, as well as promoting equity and inclusion for Vermont's diversifying communities. The VAAP Board looks forward to supporting Jill in realizing their vision and carrying out VAAPs' mission.”
Jill comes to VAAP from Vermont Law and Graduate School where they taught doctrinal and clinical immigration law and directed the Center for Justice Reform Clinic. Previously, Jill practiced as a Vermont Poverty Law Fellow at Vermont Legal Aid and an Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow at Sanctuary for Families New York. The National LGBTQ+ Bar Association recognized Jill’s achievements by honoring them as one of 2023’s Top 40 Lawyers Under 40.
As Executive Director, Jill will grow VAAP’s capacity to address Vermont’s critical shortage of immigration legal services, which studies show will exponentially increase individuals’ likelihood of success. Jill’s role will include serving as the Legal Director for Connecting Cultures–New England Survivors of Torture and Trauma (NESTT), thanks to a generous grant to VAAP from NESTT. Jill will also continue to serve on the Vermont Judiciary’s Access to Justice Coalition, the Vermont Legal Aid and Legal Services Vermont Board of Trustees, the Migrant Justice Junta de Apoyo, and the Vermont Queer Legal Professionals co-founding leadership team.
“I am honored to join the VAAP staff at this pivotal moment for immigrants’ rights nationwide,” Jill said. “People seek refuge in Vermont because we communicate through our laws and practices that we prioritize human rights above all. These folks need legal help to begin the arduous journey toward work authorization, regularized status, and permanent safety. I see so much potential in VAAP to leverage Vermont’s welcoming mutual aid culture, so that everyone can enjoy the social and economic equity that comes from accessible immigration legal aid.”
VAAP was co-founded in 2021 by Attorney Rebecca Wasserman and Dr. Kate Paarlberg-Kvam, now members of the VAAP Board of Directors, alongside a team of immigration advocates around the state. It began as a volunteer-led legal project to expand access to justice for asylum seekers and grew with the support of the Community Asylum Seekers Project (CASP) in Brattleboro, VT. In the years since its founding, VAAP has delivered a series of legal training sessions for interested attorneys and placed several asylum cases with pro bono attorney volunteers, to whom it provides mentorship and interpretation services free of charge. VAAP incorporated as an independent nonprofit entity in 2023.
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