Julie Sparks

Julie Sparks is a licensed attorney with many years of experience practicing in the field of immigration law. She has more than fifteen years of experience working as a volunteer and pro bono attorney for non-profits that engage in direct representation of low-income immigrants. Attorney Sparks is also the founder and Executive Director of the Vail Center for Immigrant Rights. During the fall and spring semesters, she serves as a Clinical Law Professor at the Pepperdine University School of Law. In addition, she is an occasional instructor at California State University – Los Angeles.

She has represented immigrants from a wide array of backgrounds, including world renowned scientists, internationally acclaimed artists, religious leaders, green card lottery winners, corporate executives, refugees, and families from all walks of life. Her primary area of expertise is defending clients from deportation or removal. She practices before the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. immigration courts, and U.S. Courts of Appeals.

Attorney Sparks’ work with refugees during the Rwandan genocide led her to pursue a career in immigration law. She has successfully represented numerous victims of torture seeking political asylum in the U.S. Attorney Sparks has assisted many in obtaining green cards based on their status as victims of domestic violence. She has assisted in the representation of many unaccompanied juvenile immigrants, many of whom were detained upon their crossing from Mexico to Texas. As a volunteer Legal Coordinator for the 2003 Immigrant Workers' Freedom Ride, Ms. Sparks assisted immigrants in joining together in a nation-wide protest and call for meaningful immigration reform to protect the rights of undocumented workers in this country. Ms. Sparks continues to participate in numerous volunteer efforts and events aimed at providing free and low-cost legal advice to immigrants in the Los Angeles area.

Ms. Sparks earned a Bachelor of Science in Education degree from Baylor University in May 1997. She obtained her Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.) degree from the University of Houston Law Center, where she was a recipient of the University of Houston Law Center's Public Interest Fellowship. She has served as a pro bono attorney for The National Center for Refugee and Immigrant Children, an agency funded in part by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She has been featured in Immigration Law Today, a nationally distributed magazine, regarding her pro bono work in Los Angeles. She was the recipient of the 2010 Beacon of Justice Award from the National Legal Aid and Defender Association.

Ms. Sparks is a member of the Texas Bar Association, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), and the AILA Southern California Chapter.

- See more at: http://moralessparks.com/attorney-profiles.html

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