Elon Law student Angelique Ryan has been named one of the country’s 25 law students of the year by National Jurist magazine.
“Elon Law third-year Angelique Ryan has combined pro bono work with travel to represent clients with great legal needs,” National Jurist said, noting Ryan’s leadership in pro bono advocacy for immigrant women and children detained indefinitely in Karnes Detention Center in Texas and her travel to Ethiopia to advocate for the reunification of a family separated by war.
The National Jurist quotes Elon Law Professor and Director of the law school’s Humanitarian Immigration Law Clinic, Heather Scavone, reflecting on Ryan’s contributions.
“During her tenure as a student at Elon, Ms. Ryan has undertaken remarkable efforts to ensure access to justice by those in need, including civilly detained women and children, noncitizen criminal defendants, refugees, and indigent defendants in the criminal courts,” Scavone said.
Ryan has worked as a legal extern in the Guilford County Public Defender’s Office since December 2014 and as a student attorney in Elon Law’s Humanitarian Immigration Law Clinic, assisting refugees and asylum seekers in the Greensboro, N.C. community and around the world. At Elon Law, Ryan is president of the Elon Law Democrats, vice president of the Immigration Law Society and an Honor Council Defender. She is a member of the Women’s Law Association, Black Law Student Association, OutLaw and National Lawyer’s Guild. In 2015, she served as vice president of the Innocence Project. Her prior experience includes service as an intern at the Orange County Rape Crisis Center.
“Elon Law student Angelique Ryan is an inspiring role model to her peers and a remarkable public servant making a difference in our community,” said Melissa Duncan, associate director of the office of student and professional life at Elon Law. “She has consistently gone above and beyond in pro bono work and she has developed creative ways to overcome obstacles to the representation of clients in greatest need of legal advocacy.”
Ryan said she plans to pursue a career in immigration law.
“Working at the Humanitarian Immigration Law Clinic and with Professor Heather Scavone and learning all the different concepts of federal immigration law have really prepared me for a career in immigration law,” Ryan said. “It’s an exciting adventure and I am really looking forward to the next steps in this journey.”