Priscilla Askar 3L Obtains Post-Bar Clerkship with Attorney General’s Office
May 1, 2015
Priscilla Askar 3L has accepted a prestigious two-year post-bar judicial clerkship at the Immigration Court of Los Angeles through the Attorney General’s Honors Program. The Department of Justice (DOJ) Honors Program is the largest and most prestigious federal entry-level attorney hiring program of its kind and eligibility is generally limited to graduating law students and recent law school graduates. Priscilla is one of 213 individuals who will join the DOJ through the Attorney General’s Honors Program this year, selected from a highly competitive candidate pool of approximately 3,000 applicants.
This opportunity came on the heels of her previous summer internship with the Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review in Los Angeles, through its Summer Law Internship Program (SLIP), where she researched and drafted court orders and memoranda on pending motions including: asylum, withholding of removal, protection under the Convention Against Torture, and cancellation of removal. Askar says she gained valuable exposure to court procedures and effective advocacy strategies. “This experience gave me a lot of insight regarding immigration law cases because I really got to delve into a case and see the case from both sides.”
Askar came to TJSL with a desire to work in public service in the field of immigration law and ambitiously sought out opportunities for experience by attending events and career panels. “I learned about the SLIP program during an attorney panel held by TJSL’s Immigration Law Society during my 1L year and I marked my calendar for the program’s next deadline.” Application deadlines for government internships and the Attorney General’s Honors Program can be completed almost one-year or more in advance and are found in the University of Arizona’s Government Honors and Internship Handbook on Symplicity. Reminders of deadlines are emailed weekly to students by the Thomas Jefferson Career Services Office.
A strong desire and commitment to immigration law throughout law school has brought Askar to where she is today. She began gaining experience early in law school by interning at the Casa Cornelia Law Center in her 2L year helping immigrant victims of serious crimes obtain visas. She is looking forward to carrying her previous internship experiences into her law career. “I am excited to develop an expertise in immigration law that will help me become a better advocate for people I will help in the future. I am also happy that I will be close to my family again in Los Angeles.”