Rogerson Prepares for Immigration Clinic, Publishes on Hip Hop Lyrics and Family Law

When summer comes and Professor Sarah Rogerson’s students leave for break, they leave her to finish some of their work. As student interns in the Law Clinic & Justice Center, Professor Rogerson teaches students through her close supervision of their work on real clients with real cases. At the end of the semester, the clients’ needs and the court dates – dozens of them -- continue.

Despite the case load, Prof. Rogerson also helped establish a new clinic for the fall students—the Immigration Law Clinic, where students will represent both detained and non-detained immigrants, in both family court and immigration court, who are victims of crime, including child abuse and neglect, domestic violence, intimate partner violence and sexual assault.

“This is an area of law that continues to grow in pretty much every part of the country,” Prof. Rogerson said. “Students will take this course not only because they’re interested in immigration law, but because the skills needed for this work are skills that can be used in any area of law.”

Also this summer she published a chapter “Using Hip-Hop’s Lyrical Narrative to Inform and Critique the Family Justice System” in the book "Hip Hop and the Law" which came out this month, published by Carolina Academic Press (August 2015). (In the same book, Professor Anthony Farley published the chapter "Sarah Palin - The Last Black President.")

Also this summer she published a chapter “Using Hip-Hop’s Lyrical Narrative to Inform and Critique the Family Justice System” in the book "Hip Hop and the Law."

Professor Rogerson regularly collaborates with a large number of legal service providers in the community, both upstate and in New York City, to engage students in policy projects,  to stay on top of best practices and to contribute to white papers. As part of her service to the community, Prof. Rogerson dedicates additional time to serving on committees and working groups that improve access to justice. At the request of New York's Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, Professor Rogerson will testify in one of four hearings that the Chief Judge is conducting on access to civil legal services in New York. The Hearing Panel will also include Presiding Justice Henry Scudder, Chief Administrative Judge A. Gail Prudenti and New York State Bar Association President David Miranda '88. This year, she was also invited by Judge Rachel Kretser to serve on the Third Judicial District Gender Fairness Committee, which works toward eradicating all vestiges of gender bias in New York Courts.

Professor Rogerson earned her B.A. at Hillsdale College, her M.A. at M.A. and J.D. at Seton Hall University, and an LL.M. at Southern Methodist University. She joined the faculty after a Clinical Teaching Fellowship at University of Baltimore School of Law, where she taught and supervised students enrolled in the Immigrant Rights Clinic. Before that she represented immigrant adults and children in cases involving torture, domestic violence, human trafficking and guardianship petitions at the Human Rights Initiative of North Texas, Inc., in both state and federal courts. Professor Rogerson also spent several years as a litigation associate practicing federal and state law in New York and New Jersey. Her scholarship is focused on the intersections between domestic violence, family law, international law and immigration law and policy.