78 | MAY 23 • 2024
J
N
J
aimie Lerner always
wanted to be in a
profession where she
could help people.
In her senior year of
undergrad at the University
of Michigan, she did a
hands-on course at Freedom
House Detroit where she
taught ESL to French-
speaking refugees from
Africa. It was an eye-opening
experience for her.
“It was the first time I felt I
could actually do something
where I could make a
difference, but also where I
could connect to people on a
personal level,” Lerner says.
She was frustrated that for
many of the people she was
working with, their big issue
was a legal issue, specifically
immigration. Lerner wanted
to help.
She attended the Cardozo
School of Law at Yeshiva
University in New York City,
hoping to find an avenue to
help those people in need.
Lerner never strayed
from immigration. Helping
people in that realm was her
purpose.
Today, Lerner is a
committed immigration
advocate who uses the Jewish
experience of displacement
and oppression to help guide
others fleeing persecution.
She is passionate about
incorporating her Jewish
values into her daily work
as a nonprofit immigration
attorney with the Michigan
Immigrant Rights Center
(MIRC).
Lerner is devoted to
helping create a voice for
marginalized communities.
At MIRC, she spearheaded
a religious leave policy
through the Diversity, Equity
& Inclusion committee
to allow individuals from
all religious and cultural
backgrounds to accrue leave
for holidays not included on
the typical leave calendar.
She also recently published
an article in the Michigan
Bar Journal to help educate
other attorneys on the
importance of cultural and
language competency and
inclusion when working
with people from different
language and cultural
backgrounds.
“Whenever I have the
privilege of being able to
see something that someone
else doesn’t in terms of an
inequity, I feel like it’s my
responsibility to either try to
fix it or teach other people
Lerner incorporates her Jewish
values into her daily work as a
nonprofit immigration attorney.
Voice of the
Voiceless
DANNY SCHWARTZ SENIOR STAFF REPORTER
NEXT DOR
VOICE OF A NEW GENERATION
Lerner and a colleague
after giving an oral
argument at the Board
of Immigration Appeals
in Falls Church, Virginia,
a case which they won.
Lerner and her
family at her son’s
graduation from
Temple Emanu-El’s
Early Childhood
Community program.