Crimmigration Clinic

Eleni Bakst is a Clinical Instructor in the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program. She supervises and trains students in the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic and in the Crimmigration Clinic on appellate and affirmative litigation, as well as direct representation matters. She also serves as the supervising attorney for the HLS Immigration Project (HIP), a student-practice organization focused on immigration-related community engagement efforts and advocacy. She was previously a Managing Attorney at the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights (CAIR) Coalition, where she managed the Maryland universal representation team and provided direct representation for detained immigrants at the immigration courts, Board of Immigration Appeals, and federal circuit courts. Prior to this, she was an Assistant Clinical Professor at Seton Hall Law School’s Immigrants’ Rights/International Human Rights Clinic and an Equal Justice Works Fellow at Human Rights First. She holds a J.D. from Duke University School of Law and a B.A. in International Studies from American University.

Tiffany Lieu is a Clinical Instructor at the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program. She supervises and trains students in the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic and in the Crimmigration Clinic on appellate and affirmative litigation as well as direct representation matters. Tiffany clerked for the Honorable Allyson K. Duncan on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and the Honorable Keith P. Ellison on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. She was previously a Stanford Public Interest Fellow and staff attorney at the National Immigration Litigation Alliance. She holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School and a B.A. in History from Duke University.

Phil Torrey is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, where he has taught since 2011. He is also the Director of the Crimmigration Clinic at Harvard Law School and the Managing Attorney of the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program. The Crimmigration Clinic engages in cutting-edge litigation and policy advocacy concerning issues ranging from criminal bars to immigration relief to sanctuary city policies.  The Clinic also provides advice to criminal defense attorneys around the country concerning the immigration consequences of criminal charges. Torrey’s research focuses on the crime-based grounds of removal and immigration detention, including the private prison industry, and the immigration system’s mandatory detention regime.  Prior to joining HLS, Torrey worked as an attorney in the Immigration Unit of Greater Boston Legal Services and as a litigation associate at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. He received his B.A. from Colgate University and his J.D. with honors from the University of Connecticut School of Law.