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 four paid staff, eleven distinguished board members, dozens of legal and lay volunteers, and a newsletter subscriber base of over 1200. 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 recognized Jill’s achievements by honoring them as one of 2023’s Top 40 Lawyers Under 40.

Click here to download Jill’s curriculum vitae.

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.

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!

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.

COMING SEPTMEBER ‘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.