“Oh, my God, it was so emotional, like everybody was crying,” Krishnamani said with a laugh when recalling that moment.

The lead-up to that big, emotional moment began in August of 2023, on the first day of Professor Lauren Aronson’s Immigration Law Clinic class, when Becerra and Krishnamani were assigned to work on a case fighting against the removal of three citizens of Nicaragua. The clients are a family who fled the violence of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s dictatorial regime, with one member of the family suffering from persecution so severe government officials shot him while participating in a peaceful protest. 

When the students took on the case, Professor Aronson had completed an initial application, but the rest of the work was their responsibility. After their clients’ perilous journey to the United States, through several countries over almost four years, it was of foremost importance for the students to gain the clients’ trust. 

“Initially, our job was just building rapport, explaining to them what the purpose of the clinic is, how we’re going to help them, giving them background on the case, that sort of thing,” Becerra said.

From there, the clinicians had the task of building the case and establishing credibility of the clients. No small task, to be sure, made a little more difficult by the additional work required from their other classes.

“We had to write a brief, draft separate affidavits, get a bunch of documentation and a bunch of research together…our filing ended up being over 700 pages,” Krishnamani explained.

The duo did a remarkable job, and their “over-preparedness,” in Becerra’s words, helped them successfully win asylum for their clients and keep the family together in the United States (since arriving, they had added another child to their family—an American citizen), and away from the persecution they faced in their native country. Both students were appreciative of all Professor Aronson had done to help them, crediting her with a willingness to answer any question but to otherwise let them learn through experience.

“I can’t believe that you can graduate from law school without working on a case. To me, that’s kind of crazy,” Becerra said, stressing how useful he found the clinic opportunity to be in his education. 

As children of immigrants, both Becerra and Krishnamani cited their background as one motivation for taking part in the Immigration Law Clinic. For Becerra, who would like to continue working in immigration law after graduation, this was also a chance to experience the work in advance; for Krishnamani, on the other hand, it was a chance to experience litigation and find an area in which he may like to direct his pro bono work in the future. 

“I would just encourage anyone to go out for clinic. It’s really informative but also really fun to work with several different clients,” Krishnamani said. “It kind of reinvigorated me on how important this work is.”

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Read the full interview online.