Bringing About A World That Ought To Be | Rebecca Press ’98

“At Friends I began to appreciate learning, which set me up to be academically and societally curious.”

Tell me about the work you do now.

I am a community lawyer working in the field of removal defense. For the past 15 years, I have defended people who are in deportation proceedings, most of whom are seeking asylum or other forms of humanitarian immigration status. I have litigated many cases before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, not always winning but always giving my clients the best chance possible.

I consider myself to be a community lawyer, meaning that developing profound, sincere, and real relationships with my clients and the broader immigrant communities with which I work is of the utmost importance, and I always do my best to be guided by their needs as they identify them, not as I think they should be. I have always been deeply committed to empowering communities most directly impacted by our immigration legal system through community education, and over the past five years, I have made it my mission to expand access to legal services and community-oriented education. One year ago, I, together with my co-founder, launched Co Counsel NYC, a non-profit legal services organization that seeks to transform the way immigration lawyers interact with the communities we serve. We aim to bridge the gap between the legal experts and those who need that expertise, prioritizing education of staff at community-based groups, law firms, and businesses, as well as community-members themselves. In our first year, we have formed 19 formal partnerships, and conducted 49 trainings, reaching more than 2000 people; our online content has reached over 500,000 people, and we have spent 1000 hours supporting and training the staff at our partner organizations. We have worked with Fortune 500 companies and Big Law corporate law firms. I also continue to work on individual complex removal defense cases, litigating five trials in the last quarter alone.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

What I enjoy most about my job are the profound relationships that I build with my clients and partners. Every day, I am lucky to be exposed to the very best humanity has to offer. I am also exposed to the very worst because all of my clients have either fled terribly violent and oppressive situations, while also facing a immigration legal system that dehumanizes them and minimizes their experiences at every turn. I have learned a great deal about the resiliency of the human spirit through my work, for which I am forever grateful.

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Friends?

Honestly, the very first thing I think about is learning how to be a New York commuter. Taking the subway everyday taught me critical life skills.

Tell me a little bit about your Friends journey?

Friends was the place where I first discovered that I liked to learn and where I was really pushed to think critically. It was a slow journey, with just one or two classes in each grade sticking out as impactful, but an important one.

In what ways have Quaker values and your experience at Friends influenced the work you do today?

It's hard for me to distinguish the Quaker values of living your life with integrity, believing peace and justice are integrally linked, the importance and power of community, and the need for equity, from the values I was taught from other aspects of my upbringing. But certainly these values are important to me and show up in every aspect of my work and life. I think it was very important to have these values reiterated at every turn as a young person, and I'm grateful I had the opportunity to go to a school that practices what it preaches.

How do you understand the work you do now as bringing about a world that ought to be?

On an individual level, I strive to ensure that every one of my clients receives their fair day in court, such that the United States is complying with its legal obligations to offer protection to those who will be persecuted or tortured should they be deported. Zooming out, until we are able to appreciate and recognize the humanity in the "other," we will always be desperately far from a world defined by safety, equity, and peace. Part of what I do is to chip away at the dehumanization and othering of our newest community members.

What are your hopes, dreams and plans for your work in the future?

My biggest hope is that I work myself out of a job and that one day people seeking safety and stability in our country, no matter what the reason, will not be forced to defend themselves against deportation. In the meantime, I plan to continue growing Co Counsel. I envision Co Counsel in every space where immigrant communities need access to education and legal support, with lawyers who are committed to a community lawyering approach.