It Starts With a Story: How to Remain Community-Centered in Litigation and Public Policy Work

Wasserstein Fellow Fátima Menendez will share her experiences centering clients in litigation and public policy work and how to lawyer in ways that are responsive to community needs. Fatima will also address how her careers in direct immigration services, legislative advocacy and impact litigation have shaped her approach on behalf of clients and she will explain how remaining community-centered adds value to her work. Representing Latino clients across the Southwest in cases challenging discrimination in voting, immigrant’s rights, employment and education, Fatima will share her perspective on the role of the client, and the Latino lawyer, in achieving social change.

Lunch provided. Please RSVP below.

Open to the HLS community.

Fátima Lucía Menéndez is the Southwest Regional Counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF). She leads the Southwest regional team in its litigation and policy work to protect and advance Latino civil rights in Texas, Colorado, New Mexico and other states. She is co-counsel in several civil rights impact litigation cases, including LUPE v. Abbott (a challenge to Senate Bill 1, a Texas anti-voter measure) and LULAC v. Abbott (Texas redistricting case). Before her current position, Fátima served as a legislative staff attorney at MALDEF for five years. She has testified before the Texas Legislature on education, political access, voting rights and immigrants’ rights issues in Texas. Fátima has also advocated before other governing bodies on Latino civil rights issues, and successfully helped block construction of a detention center for migrant children. Prior to joining MALDEF, she represented unaccompanied child immigrants as a senior staff attorney with the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES). She earned her law degree from St. Mary’s University School of Law, where she was honored as the 2020 Distinguished Young Alumna, and her Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Mary’s University.

If you or an event participant requires disability-related accommodations, please contact HLS Accessibility Services at accessibility@law.harvard.edu in advance of the event.