Carmen Maria Rey ’06 Returns to Brooklyn Law School to Teach in Safe Harbor Project

For Carmen Maria Rey ’06, returning to the Law School as Visiting Assistant Professor of Clinical Law feels like coming home. For 2018-19, Rey will be working in the Safe Harbor Project with Professor Stacy Caplow, Associate Dean of Professional Legal Education.

Since its launch in 1997, the Safe Harbor Project, has secured asylum and/or related humanitarian relief for 130 principal applicants—and approximately 85 immediate relatives—in both the Asylum Office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and in Immigration Court.

“[The Safe Harbor Clinic] offers students incredible learning opportunities, but also has a direct social impact,” said Rey. “Lawyering is a muscle, and we give students a chance to exercise that muscle prior to graduation.” As a student, Rey was part of the clinic she now will teach.

Rey’s career has focused on immigration law and advocacy for immigrant families, particularly survivors of gender-based violence. Rey recently served as Director of the Immigration Intervention Project at Sanctuary for Families, the largest provider of legal services to survivors of gender-based violence in New York City, where she oversaw the legal representation of thousands of immigrant survivors of gender-based violence and led advocacy efforts to advance their interests. She had previously been an Equal Justice Works fellow at Sanctuary.

Rey has been actively involved with the Law School over the years, speaking at events, teaching classes, and hiring Brooklyn Law students and graduates as interns and staff.

“It’s wonderful to welcome back Carmen,” said Caplow. “Our students and I will benefit so much from all of her knowledge and expertise, and she provides a wonderful example of how to make a huge difference to people through an immigration law career.”

An immigrant from Galicia, an autonomous region of Spain, Rey speaks Spanish, French, and Gallego (Galician), a Romance language closely related to Portuguese. An avid international traveler, she recently returned from adventures in Sri Lanka.