Lenni Benson

Professor Lenni Benson specializes in immigration law and political asylum and is nationally recognized in the field. In 2008 she was honored with other members of the Safe Passage Project and received the State Bar President’s Award for Pro Bono Law School Project. 1999, the American Immigration Lawyers Association named Professor Benson the outstanding professor in immigration law based on her contributions to the professional and scholarly development of the field and her role as a mentor of students and young attorneys.

Professor Benson was partner in the international law firm Bryan Cave LLP, where her twelve years of practice focused on immigration. She is an active participant in immigrant rights projects coordinated by the National Lawyers Guild and the American Civil Liberties Union, and she serves on the board of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law Foundation and is a trustee emeritus for the American Immigration Law Foundation. She is currently the Chair of the Immigration Committee of the Administrative Law Section of the American Bar Association and is the President-Elect of the Immigration Section of the American Association of Law Schools.