Clinic Faculty & Staff
Andrew I. Schoenholtz
Co-Director, Center for Applied Legal Studies; Director, Human Rights Institute; Professor from Practice, Georgetown Law; B.A., Hamilton; J.D., Harvard; Ph.D., Brown
Professor Schoenholtz directs the Certificate in Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies as well as the Center for Applied Legal Studies at the Law Center, and is the Deputy Director of Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of International Migration. He teaches courses on Refugee Law and Policy, Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies, and Immigration Law and Policy. Prior to teaching at the Law Center, Professor Schoenholtz served as Deputy Director of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform and practiced immigration, asylum and international law with the Washington, D.C. law firm of Covington & Burling. Dr. Schoenholtz has conducted fact-finding missions in Haiti, Cuba, Ecuador, Germany, Croatia, Bosnia, Malawi, and Zambia to study root causes of forced migration, refugee protection, long-term solutions to mass migration emergencies, and humanitarian relief operations. He researches and writes regularly on refugee law and policy. His publications include: Refugee Roulette: Disparities in Asylum Adjudication (co-author); Refugee Protection in the United States Post-September 11th; The Uprooted: Improving Humanitarian Responses to Forced Migration (chapter on “Improving Legal Frameworks”); and Aiding and Abetting Persecutors: The Seizure and Return of Haitian Refugees in Violation of the U.N. Refugee Convention and Protocol. Dr. Schoenholtz holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a Ph.D. from Brown University.
Jayesh Rathod
Co-Director, Center for Applied Legal Studies; A.B., Harvard University; J.D., Columbia University School of Law
Jayesh Rathod is Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Center for Applied Legal Studies. He was formerly a Professor of Law and Director of the Immigrant Justice Clinic at American University Washington College of Law. His areas of expertise and scholarly interests include immigration law, labor and employment law, and clinical legal education.
Professor Rathod has published empirical, applied, and theoretical work in a variety of prominent journals, including the Columbia Law Review, Yale Law Journal Forum, U.C. Irvine Law Review, Arizona Law Review, and the Michigan Journal of Law Reform. In 2018, he received the Pauline Ruyle Moore Award for outstanding scholarship in the area of public law. Professor Rathod has also been recognized for his impactful and innovative teaching, including the use of technology and the promotion of bilingual legal education. In 2023, the Society of American Law Teachers awarded him its Great Teacher Award for his contributions to the legal academy.
Professor Rathod has worked on cutting-edge cases and projects relating to immigration detention, removal defense (including criminal-immigration intersections), humanitarian relief, immigrant workers’ rights, language access, and more. He has been invited to speak on immigration and workplace law topics at institutions across the United States, and has served as a commentator in local, national, and international media (including CNN, NBC News, and National Public Radio).
Professor Rathod was a Fulbright Scholar at two universities in Brazil, where he taught courses on U.S. immigration law and comparative migration policy, and conducted research relating to the Brazilian immigration system. He is fluent in Spanish and proficient in Portuguese.
Prior to joining the legal academy, Professor Rathod was a Staff Attorney at CASA, where he represented immigrant day laborers, domestic workers, and union members on immigration and employment law matters. Following his graduation from law school, he practice at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (now WilmerHale) and clerked for the late Honorable Louis F. Oberdorfer on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Sophia Genovese
Clinical Teaching Fellow; B.A., Whittier College; J.D., Brooklyn Law School 
Sophia Genovese is a supervising attorney and Clinical Teaching Fellow with the Center for Applied Legal Studies (CALS). Before joining CALS, Sophia was the Managing Attorney for the asylum and detention programs at the New Mexico Immigrant Law Center. There, she oversaw assistance to several thousand asylum seekers in obtaining release from immigration detention and securing immigration protection. Sophia’s practice has also centered on systemic advocacy, including obtaining a nationwide change to ICE policy on behalf of people with physical disabilities in detention and acting as the legal expert for the Dignity Not Detention bill at the New Mexico State Legislature. Before this, Sophia founded a detention representation program at Catholic Charities Community Services in New York, working at the intersection of law and community organizing to achieve the release of people with removal orders from immigration detention. Since 2016, Sophia has worked on a range of immigration matters, from business immigration visas to family-based petitions to all forms of humanitarian protection.
Sophia received her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School through the 2-year accelerated J.D. program. There, she served on the Brooklyn Journal of International Law, received several public service awards, and received CALI Awards for the Deportation Defense and Business Immigration Law courses. During law school, Sophia served as the Assistant to the Rapporteur for the UN’s Global Migration Group, authoring its official report in the lead-up to the 2016 UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants. Sophia graduated summa cum laude from Whitter College, receiving her B.A. in Political Science and Global and Cultural Studies, with a certificate in organizational management.
Casey Mangan
Clinical Teaching Fellow; B.A., Azusa Pacific University; J.D. USC Gould School of Law
Casey Mangan is a supervising attorney and Clinical Teaching Fellow with the Center for Applied Legal Studies (CALS). Before joining CALS, Casey was a Senior Attorney at New Mexico Immigrant Law Center in Las Cruces, NM. Most recently, Casey managed all non-detained removal defense and pro bono representation for NMILC. Casey supervised, trained, and mentored staff and pro bono attorneys, paralegals, and interns in affirmative and defensive matters. Casey was previously an Equal Justice Works Fellow at NMILC.
Casey served as Senior Submissions Editor of Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice at USC Gould School of Law. Casey was also a law student representative in USC Gould’s Immigration Clinic for one year. Prior to law school, Casey was a Fulbright Scholar at İnönü University in Malatya, Türkiye and taught at a secondary school in Salamanca, Spain. Casey graduated Magna Cum Laude with his B.A. in Sociology from Azusa Pacific University. Casey speaks Spanish.
Susie Saffari
Case and Docket Manager
Susie is the Case and Docket Manager for the Center for Applied Legal Studies (CALS). Prior to joining CALS, Susie was the Immigration Legal Services Manager at CASA, Inc., where she represented clients in DACA, TPS, and other affirmative immigration cases as a DOJ Accredited Representative. Susie also worked with unaccompanied children detained at a secure Office of Refugee Resettlement detention facility while working at the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights as a senior paralegal and DOJ Accredited Representative.