Deborah Eve Anker is an American Professor of Law and Director of the

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program, which she co-founded in 1984. The HIRC is a clinical and academic program that engages students in representation, and teaches institutional context,

legal doctrine A legal doctrine is a framework, set of rules, Procedural law, procedural steps, or Test (law), test, often established through precedent in the common law, through which judgments can be determined in a given legal case. A doctrine comes about w ...

and theory. She has been a Harvard academic for over 35 years. Anker is the author of the treatise, ''Law of Asylum in the United States'', and she has co-drafted gender asylum guidelines and

amicus curiae An ''amicus curiae'' (; ) is an individual or organization who is not a party to a legal case, but who is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. The decision on ...

briefs. Her scholarly work on asylum is widely cited, frequently by international and domestic courts and tribunals, including the United States Supreme Court. In 2014 the First Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a

Board of Immigration Appeals The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) is an administrative appellate body within the Executive Office for Immigration Review of the United States Department of Justice responsible for reviewing decisions of the U.S. immigration courts and certa ...

decision denying asylum to a Guatemalan

Mayan Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

Quiche Quiche ( ) is a French tart consisting of pastry crust filled with savoury custard and pieces of cheese, meat, seafood or vegetables. A well-known variant is quiche Lorraine, which includes lardons or bacon. Quiche may be served hot, warm or co ...

Indian, for which the HIRC wrote a brief. In August of the same year, the Board of Immigration Appeals recognized

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

as grounds for seeking

asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea ...

in the US, with Anker and the HIRC having written the amicus brief in that decision, in the case of ''Matter of A-R-C-G-''. In June 2015, Anker received the Arthur C. Helton Human Rights Award from the

American Immigration Lawyers Association The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), founded on October 14, 1946, is a voluntary bar association of over 15,000 attorneys and law professors who practice and teach immigration law. AILA member attorneys represent U.S. families see ...

"in recognition of outstanding service in advancing the cause of human rights". She graduated

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

from

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...

, and received a J.D. from the

Northeastern University Law School Northeastern University School of Law (NUSL) is the law school of Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded as an evening program to meet the needs of its local community, NUSL is nationally recognized for its cooperative legal ed ...

. She also has a

Master of Law A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

degree and Master of Arts and Teaching degree from Harvard. She is a Fellow of the

American Bar Foundation The American Bar Foundation (ABF) is an independent, nonprofit national research institute established in 1952 and located in Chicago. Its mission is to expand knowledge and advance justice by supporting innovative, interdisciplinary and rigorous ...

. Her father, Irving Anker, was a

New York City Schools Chancellor The New York City Schools Chancellor (formally "Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education") is the head of the New York City Department of Education. The Chancellor is appointed by the Mayor of New York City, Mayor, and serves at th ...

during

desegregation Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups, usually referring to races. Desegregation is typically measured by the index of dissimilarity, allowing researchers to determine whether desegregation efforts are having impact o ...

. Her mother, Sara R. Anker, was a history teacher at

Martin Van Buren High School Martin Van Buren High School (MVBHS) is a public high school in Queens Village, New York. The school is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Academics The high school is accredited by the New York State Board of Regents.

Queens Village Queens Village is a mostly residential middle class neighborhood in the eastern part of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bound by Hollis to the west, Cambria Heights to the south, Bellerose to the east, and Oakland Gardens to the north ...

. Deborah Anker married Alan Nogee and has a son with him, named Philip Anker-Nogee.Anker, Deborah E. Law of Asylum in the United States (Thompson West 4th ed. 2011).

Bar admissions

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the court of last resort, highest court in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the di ...

, 1975 *

United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (in case citations, D. Mass.) is the federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The first court session was hel ...

, 1976 *

United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (in case citations, 1st Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Maine * District of Massachusetts * ...

, 1980 *

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * District ...

, 1987 *

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

, 1993

References

Selected bibliography

*Anker, Deborah E. Law of Asylum in the United States, 2015 Edition ( Thompson-Reuters). * *Anker, Deborah E. "2 Legal change from the bottom up." Gender in Refugee Law: From the Margins to the Centre (2014): 46. *Anker, Deborah E. "Grutter V. Bollinger: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Legitimization of the Role of Comparative and International Law in US Jurisprudence." Harvard Law Review 127.1 (2013): 425. *Anker, Deborah E., Nancy Kelly, John Willshire Carrera & Sabrineh Ardalan. "Mejilla-Romero: A New Era For Child Asylum," 12-09 Immigration Briefings, Thompson-Reuters 1 (2012). *Anker, Deborah E. "Corroboration, Credibility and Nexus in Asylum Law" in AILA Immigration & Nationality Law Handbook (American Immigration Lawyers Association, 2012). *Anker, Deborah E. Law of Asylum in the United States, 7th Edition, Thomson-Reuters (2014). *Anker, Deborah E. & Sabrineh Ardalan. "Escalating Persecution of Gays and Refugee Protection: Comment on Queer Cases Make Bad Law," 44 N.Y.U. Journal of International Law and Politics 529 (2012). *Anker, Deborah E. "Gender-based Particular Social Group Claims: Overview" in AILA Immigration & Nationality Law Handbook (American Immigration Lawyers Association, 2011). *Anker, Deborah E. "Refugee law, gender, and the human rights paradigm."Harv. Hum. Rts. J. 15 (2002): 133.

External links

Harvard websiteHIRCThe Lexington Principles on the Rights of Detainees on Wikimedia Commons
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anker, Deborah American legal scholars Harvard Law School faculty Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni Harvard Law School alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Brandeis University alumni