MoForever Alumni News - Summer 2020

MoForever Summer 2020 | 22 immigration protections for a class of 500,000 Salvadoran and Guatemalan refugees, work authorizations for all, and the creation of a new corps of specially trained asylum officers by the U.S. State Department. Recalling Jim Garrett as a true litigator, Laurie says, “He looked stone-faced at the government’s offer to accept all of the plaintiffs’ demands and requested time to ‘consider it.’ Back at the office, Jim cursed, ‘We should have demanded more!’” Laurie later took that fighting spirit with her to El Salvador, where she met up with two other MoFo associates, Mark Martel and Lynn Haug, to investigate two civil war civilian massacres. They interviewed survivors, refugees who had returned to El Salvador, rebel soldiers, and Salvadoran Army and Air Force officers. Back in the United States, they regrouped at MoFo’s San Francisco office to compile their findings and submit a report to the U.N. Truth Commission. One of Laurie’s biggest professional challenges was leaving MoFo’s extensive resources to work at a nonprofit organization with limited resources. Luckily, once you’re part of the MoFo community, you’re always part of the MoFo community. “Thankfully, MoFo has been a great friend to Legal Aid of Marin throughout the years,” Laurie says. Rewards of Legal Aid Working at Legal Aid may not be flashy, but the rewards are powerful. One ordinary afternoon, Laurie was busy at work when she heard, “Hello, Laurie.” She looked up to an extraordinary sight: the Cambodian refugee she’d fought to free stood in her office. He’d survived the killing fields of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge. He’d been in a California prison for years. His public defender told Laurie his California criminal conviction had been the most unfair jury verdict of her career. The man had nearly been sent back to Cambodia before Laurie’s work prevented his removal from the United States. “I took a bus from the jail to the address on your business card,” he beamed. Laurie says, “It struck me how truly awesome our legal system is when it works. All the might of the executive branch (then INS) had to bend to the order of a judge, open the jail door, and provide safe haven to this refugee.” Fighting Immigrant Exploitation Not everyone is so clearly called to their life’s work as Laurie was in 1980. But Laurie says many lawyers volunteer now because they believe