Patricia Stottlemyer L’17

Patricia is an impact litigation attorney at Human Rights First in Washington, DC. At Penn Law, Patricia found her passion for lawyering for social change, especially at the intersection of international human rights and domestic law and policy. She employs a holistic approach to advocacy, marrying client representation, policy reform, and systemic legal change. Patricia spent a year in Penn’s Transnational Legal Clinic, where she represented asylum seekers and others seeking humanitarian protection in the United States. She also pursued a graduate certificate in Middle East and Islamic Studies, building on her pre-law school experience in foreign policy. Patricia was a case manager with the International Refugee Assistance Project, a senior editor on the Journal of Constitutional Law, and editor-in-chief of the Penn Law Global Affairs Blog. She co-authored The Fight for Equal Protection: Reconstruction-Redemption Redux with Penn Law Professor Kermit Roosevelt III. Patricia joined Human Rights First as the Chubb Rule of Law Fellow, working at the intersection of national security policy and human rights. After a year as a legal fellow, which included traveling to Guantanamo Bay to serve as a nongovernmental observer of the military commissions, Patricia transitioned to a role as a staff attorney. In this capacity, Patricia helps to lead the organization’s strategic impact litigation efforts, all aimed at protecting the rights of asylum seekers. She co-counsels and identifies new opportunities for the organization’s federal impact litigation docket, including class-action suits against the federal government on behalf of asylum seekers. Her work focuses on protecting due process for asylum seekers and fair and meaningful access to protection in the United States, and fighting against inhumane immigration detention. She is grateful for the opportunity to use her Penn Law education to seek systemic change.