My Khanh Ngo (TEAK Class of 2006) recently graduated this May from Yale Law School. As a first-generation professional and daughter of immigrants, My Khanh chose to pursue a legal education in order to defend the civil and criminal rights of disadvantaged communities, particularly poor and immigrant communities in the United States. During her time at YLS, she represented hundreds of clients through the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic, Capital Punishment Clinic, International Refugee Assistance Project, and Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project. Some of her most memorable cases include winning a test case to help a transgender Egyptian activist resettle through embassy-referred refugee process, representing immigrants in bond hearings, and working with renowned capital defense attorney, Steve Bright, on a recent case before the Supreme Court, which held that a death row inmate had been denied the mental health expert required by the Constitution.
My Khanh helped draft the complaint and motion for a stay against the first litigation challenging the Trump administration’s travel ban against citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries (more information about the case featured here). She cannot envision her life without the support and mentorship of TEAK throughout her early years in school, and is continuously grateful for the doors that the organization opened both academically and professionally. In fact, My Khanh currently serves as a mentor for Hreedi Dev (TEAK Class of 2017) because she hopes to pass on the lessons that she herself learned from TEAK on pursuing higher education as the first in her family. This August, My Khanh will be joining the Office of the Alameda County Public Defender in Oakland, CA to defend immigrant clients who get caught up in the criminal justice system from deportation. She will also work with community groups to advocate against local immigration enforcement actions. After her fellowship year, she will clerk for Judge Richard Paez at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, CA, and resume her career in direct services and legal advocacy.