Lecturer I, Program in International and Comparative Studies/Donia Human Rights Center
About
Lara works as a Director of Pro Bono at the International Refugee Assistance Project, where she provides training, mentorship, and project oversight on a wide range of cases to IRAP’s extensive pro bono network of attorneys and students. From 2019-2021, she served as the Public Interest Director at Michigan Law School. Lara was also a Visiting Clinical Lecturer at Yale Law School where she co-taught an experiential seminar on refugee law and practice for three years. Previously, Lara worked as a UNHCR deployee conducting refugee status determinations in the Caribbean and spent a year in Ecuador researching the impact of the Mexico Plan of Action as a Fulbright scholar.
Lara received her BA in History with Honors from the University of Michigan in 2008, her MSc in Forced Migration from the University of Oxford in 2010, and her JD cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School in 2013. She has appeared in media outlets such as This American Life, CNN, and the Associated Press to speak about global humanitarian issues.
