Mairin McQueen, 2L

Mairin’s interest in joining the IHRC stems from her passion for public service and experience working with human rights organizations. As a college student, she interned with the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, a partnership of attorneys in Haiti and Boston, where she interviewed Haitian asylum-seekers with temporary protected status visas who were subject to mass deportation. Later, Mairin interned with ActionAid in Sydney, Australia, where she drafted case studies about women from 45
countries affected by different human rights crises and researched the impact of ActionAid’s global grassroots efforts to uplift women community leaders, protect human rights in climate emergencies and aid survivors of sexual violence.

Mairin has served in federal, state and local government. She spent an undergraduate semester in Washington D.C. where she studied policy development and presented a lobbying strategy to prohibit the U.S.’s inhumane practice of shackling women who are incarcerated during pregnancy and childbirth.

Mairin is a Public Interest Scholar and has been active in volunteering with the Harriet Buhai Center for Family Law. During her 1L summer, Mairin interned with the Board of Supervisors Liaison Division of the Los Angeles County Counsel’s Office. This year, she serves as President to both the American Constitution Society and the National Lawyers Guild. Mairin is excited to continue to expand her skills with the IHRC and engage in cross-cultural lawyering and zealous advocacy.

“My experience working for international human rights organizations honed my drive to empower survivors of trauma through legal aid and policy advocacy.”