New Lawyer Division Member Spotlight: Abril Perez

Abril Perez is a bright new lawyer currently working as a Special Project Staff Attorney for Casa Cornelia Law Center, a public interest law firm that provides pro bono legal services to victims of human and civil rights violations. Her dedication to human rights and immigration issues started with her own parents who were Mexican nationals that immigrated to the United States.  

Perez was born and raised in a primarily immigrant community in El Paso, Texas, where she saw firsthand the obstacles immigrants face every day. She remembers being able to see the Mexican border from her house and the many community members who were forced to commute long distances to work every day.  

Perez attributes her initial motivation to help those in need to her parents. Her father was politically active and taught her the importance of helping underrepresented communities stand up for themselves. She remembers helping her father write and translate position papers on politics and policy in their community. Although her mom was not as political, she taught her daughter to not allow others to treat her poorly. From her mom, Perez learned to be strong and to always appreciate her culture and where her family came from. She remembers her parents’ goals were to fit in, keep their heads down, and work as hard as possible. Seeing her family and community struggle is what inspired her to help her community not just be tolerated, but accepted and afforded the same rights and privileges as others. 

 “Growing up gay, female, and Latina in West Texas inspired me to change things for people like me,” she said. “Casa Cornelia empowers these vulnerable people to be seen and heard.” 

Perez attended the University of Texas at El Paso, where she received her bachelor’s degree in English language and literature and master’s degree in rhetoric and composition/writing studies. While in graduate school, she was an editor for Revilla y Alvarez S.C., a law firm in Mexico City where she translated and edited legal documents from Spanish to English.  

She accredits her experience as a staff member for a South Texas congressional campaign as a motivating factor for her to pursue law. Perez recalls going from town to town and attending community events where she connected with many people and learned of the problems they faced. This experience taught her the importance of connecting with others and reinforced her desire to empower vulnerable and underrepresented communities.  

During law school, Perez worked as a law clerk with Casa Cornelia’s asylum program. Although she already had a strong interest in immigration issues, she realized how immigration law was an avenue to advocate for a variety of underrepresented communities, including the LGBTQ+ and LatinX communities.  

In 2020, Perez graduated from California Western School of Law and passed the California bar exam in the midst of a global pandemic. She remembers her first day as Special Project Staff Attorney for Casa Cornelia was in her kitchen. While starting her first job after law school from home was not ideal, she felt very fortunate to find a job in an increasingly scarce job market. She enjoys working at Casa Cornelia because her colleagues genuinely want to help her and have a clear mission of helping those most in need.

As a Special Project Staff Attorney with Casa Cornelia, Perez initially focused on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) cases. To better understand DACA, she remembers taking a crash course on the separation of powers doctrine and other constitutional issues. This included calling her former constitutional law professor Jessica Fink to help her better understand the separation of powers. Perez notes that DACA has recently become even more complicated: in a July 2021 decision, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas held that DACA policy “is illegal” and granted a permanent injunction against DACA’s continued operation.  

In response to this decision, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has stated that it will continue to accept the filing of both initial and renewal DACA requests, as well as accompanying requests for employment authorization. DHS cannot pursuant to the Texas court decision grant initial DACA requests and accompanying requests for employment authorization for the time being, but it will continue to grant or deny renewal DACA requests, according to existing policy. 

During this time when initial DACA applications will not be granted, Perez will shift to helping Casa Cornelia clients with other types of humanitarian immigration relief, such as U nonimmigrant status (U Visas), which are granted to victims of crime who have suffered mental or physical abuse and are helpful to law enforcement or government officials in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity. 

Perez recognizes that despite the adversity she has faced as a member of minority groups, she feels privileged because she was able to attend law school, pass the bar, and obtain a job helping others in the middle of a pandemic. She believes she has the responsibility to use that privilege to help others as an attorney, and she encourages others to dedicate their time and resources to pro bono or humanitarian efforts — “I could not have gotten to where I am without the help of a lot of people. No one does anything alone. I want to be able to use my position as an attorney to elevate vulnerable populations and amplify their voices by using my platform.”