Elizabeth is deeply committed to public service. She returns to UW Law after 3 years at Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), a non-profit legal aid organization that serves migrant children and their families. As a senior attorney in KIND’s Seattle field office, Elizabeth provided direct representation to both detained and released unaccompanied children in removal proceedings and she mentored pro bono teams at Microsoft and other companies and law firms in Seattle. Earlier in her legal career, Elizabeth was the Children’s Coordinator at KIND’s predecessor organization, Volunteer Advocates for Immigrant Justice (VAIJ) and she spent nearly 2 years as a legal advocate at Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP).
Elizabeth has a long history of working with students. She spent nearly 11 years at UW Law, beginning as a legal writing advisor in the Legal Educators Project Afghanistan (LESPA); then as a Lecturer teaching advanced courses in legal research and writing across law school programs; and finally, as the Associate Director of the Master of Jurisprudence program. Before law school, Elizabeth taught English to Speakers of Other Languages for many years, including at a publicly funded, alternative middle and high school program and at various non-profits serving immigrants and refugees. She also taught worksite literacy for Asian Counseling and Referral Service (ACRS) here in Seattle. She is delighted to be working with students again in her capacity as Director of the W.H. Gates Public Service Program.
Elizabeth holds a B.A. from the Honors College at the University of Oregon; an M.A. in Applied Linguistics from Teachers College at Columbia University; and a J.D., magna cum laude, from Seattle University School of Law, where she served as a Research and Technical Editor on the editorial board of the law review.
In her free time, Elizabeth enjoys cooking, music, traveling and time at the coast and in the mountains with her family and dog.