Presenters
Jehan Laner, Staff Attorney - ILRC
Growing up in a family and community of immigrants, Jehan is deeply committed to defending the human rights of all people. Jehan joined the ILRC in June 2022. Prior to joining the ILRC, Jehan represented detained and non-detained immigrants in removal proceedings at Pangea Legal Services and as an Immigration Legal Fellow with Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto. Jehan also fought for policies to disentangle local law enforcement from immigration enforcement, as a Ford Fellow with Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus’s Criminal Justice Reform program.
Jehan received her J.D. from New York University Law School. During law school, Jehan was a student advocate for two years in the Immigrant Rights Clinic where she defended immigrants facing deportation. In the clinic, she represented asylum seekers in immigration court in New York and Texas and co-authored amicus briefs before the Eight Circuit and Board of Immigration Appeals. Jehan speaks Spanish fluently.
Grisel Ruiz, Supervising Attorney - ILRC
Grisel Ruiz is a Supervising Attorney in San Francisco where she focuses on the intersection between immigration law and criminal law. This includes advising attorneys and advocates on the immigration consequences of criminal offenses, training on removal defense, and supporting local and statewide campaigns to push back on immigration enforcement. In addition to technical assistance, training, and campaign support in these areas, Grisel also helps lead the ILRC’s state legislative work. Grisel is currently the Board Chair for Freedom for Immigrants (formerly CIVIC), a nonprofit that advocates for detained immigrants.
Prior to working with the ILRC, Grisel was a litigation associate at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP and a Stimson Fellow housed at the UC Davis Law School Immigration Clinic and California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation. As a legal fellow, she co-founded “Know Your Rights” programs at local immigration detention centers, for which she received an award from Cosmo for Latinas.
Grisel is an immigrant herself and earned her law degree from the University of Chicago where she received the Tony Patiño Fellowship. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame, where she dual majored in Political Science and Spanish Literature. Grisel is admitted to the bar in California is fluent in Spanish.
Amalia Wille, Partner - Lakin & Wille
Amalia’s practice focuses on removal defense, family-based immigration, immigration law and crimes, complex motions to reopen, appeals, and representing immigrants before the federal courts. She represents asylum-seekers and has expertise in defense against terrorism and security-related bars to admission. She also specializes in immigration detention issues.
Amalia is a lecturer at U. C. Berkeley School of Law, where she supervises law students representing immigrants before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals through Berkeley Law’s Ninth Circuit Practicum. She is co-class counsel in Aleman-Gonzalez v. Sessions, a class action case that mandates prolonged detention bond hearings for individuals detained pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)(6) in the Ninth Circuit, and in Zepeda Rivas v. Jennings, a class action that has successfully challenged immigration detention conditions in Northern California during the COVID-19 pandemic. She currently serves on the Amicus Committee for the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). She previously served on AILA’s national Asylum and Refugee Committee, and as the liaison to ICE for AILA’s Northern California Chapter.
Prior to forming Lakin & Wille LLP, Amalia was an associate attorney at Van Der Hout LLP for six years, where she honed her skills in litigation, and gained experience in a wide breadth of immigration matters.