Assessing the Legal Service Needs of Immigrant Communities

Project Details

Purpose: The purpose of this project is to assess the legal service needs of immigrant communities in the Greater Hampton Roads area. We seek to identify service gaps and obstacles to accessing legal services that immigrants experience as they seek to adjust to their new surroundings and meet their and their families' needs. Finally, the aim of this study is to identify how the legal community and the W & M Immigration Clinic (a legal clinic at W&M Law School), in particular, might address unmet needs among immigrant communities.  

Method: Focus groups with community stakeholders and members of the legal community 

Description: This is a collaborative project between Professor Jennifer Bickham Mendez and the Immigration Clinic at W&M Law School. Focus groups with community stakeholders as well as members of the Hampton Roads legal community will explore participants’ understandings of the legal service needs of immigrants as well as their experiences serving immigrant clients and connecting them to resources.  

Student’s Role: Students will provide research assistance and administrative support to include (but not limited to): administrative support and logistics in organizing the focus groups, assisting the PIs in compiling notes from focus groups, loading notes and transcripts into a qualitative data analysis program and coding data, conducting web and library research.  

Time period: Fall semester, 2022