Abigail Byman
I have been an enthusiastic member of the ACLU since I joined at the same time I began my legal career 31 years ago in my home town of Chicago. At that time, the Nazis wanted to march on Skokie, Illinois and many of my relatives as well as others of my acquaintance quit the ACLU in disgust over its willingness to defend the civil liberties of such a vilified group. I thought at the time that they had it all wrong, that our rights mean nothing if they are not applicable to everyone, and so I joined.
I was not, however, really active in the ACLU until after I moved to Pennsylvania in late 1995. The northeast Pennsylvania chapter was restarted a few years later, and I soon became its secretary, a post I have held to this day. A few years after that, I was asked to join the Governance Committee of the ACLU-PA, and I participated in the creation of revised bylaws for the ACLU-PA and the Foundation of the ACLU-PA. Two years ago I was elected to fill the unexpired term of a Board member; my participation on the Board has been immensely gratifying ever since. Recently I was asked to be the Secretary of the ACLU-PA Board, and I am proud to fulfill those responsibilities as well. My skills as a corporate nonprofit lawyer – I serve as the General Counsel and University Secretary of The University of Scranton – and my passion for preserving civil liberties make me a committed and dedicated candidate for reelection to the Board of the ACLU-PA.
Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia
I am very happy to be nominated for the ACLU-PA Board of Directors. I joined Penn State Law in July 2008 as founder and director of the school’s Center for Immigrants' Rights and as a clinical professor of law. I also teach Asylum and Refugee Law and a clinical course on Immigration Law and Policy. Previously, I worked for several years as deputy director for legal affairs at the National Immigration Forum, an immigration advocacy organization in Washington, D.C. During that time, I was immersed in issues surrounding the creation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and “Post 9-11” executive branch policies impacting immigrant communities, and was a voice in the debates surrounding “comprehensive immigration reform.” I provided legal expertise and analysis of legislative and regulatory proposals; engaged in direct advocacy with Congress and the administration; and led an NGO-governmental work groups on immigrant due process and civil liberties. I also taught Immigration Law and Asylum and Refugee Law at Howard University School of Law and the American University Washington College of Law (2005-2008).
Prior to joining the National Immigration Forum, I was an attorney with Maggio Kattar, P.C. in Washington, D.C., where I litigated deportation matters before the immigration courts in Virginia and Maryland and represented clients seeking asylum as well as those needing assistance with obtaining family and employment-based immigration benefits from the Department of Homeland Security (formerly INS). While a student at Georgetown University Law Center, I served as an editor for the Georgetown Immigration Law Journal and as a research assistant to former INS general counsel T. Alexander Aleinikoff.
I am a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers’ Guild, and the Pennsylvania Immigration Resource Center, where I am also a Board member. I hold bar licenses in Maryland and New Jersey. I have been received leadership awards from both the Department of Homeland Security Office for Inspector General and the Department of Homeland Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and in 2003, was named Pro Bono Attorney of the Year by the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee.
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