AILA Recognizes Lily S. Axelrod with the 2021 Sam Williamson Mentor Award

WASHINGTON, DC - The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) recognizes Lily S. Axelrod of Memphis, TN, with the 2021 Sam Williamson Mentor Award, in acknowledgment of her outstanding efforts and excellent counsel to immigration attorneys by providing mentoring assistance.

Lily Axelrod has focused on mentoring and giving back from the start of her career by writing and sharing practice tips and advisories on social media and other platforms. Colleagues look to her for insights and trust her understanding of the law.

Ms. Axelrod is a Spanish-speaking attorney at Siskind Susser, PC, a full-service immigration law firm in Memphis, Tennessee. Her practice focuses on complex removal defense matters. Ms. Axelrod enjoys advising clients and other attorneys about the immigration consequences of criminal convictions, and has recently joined the IMMpact litigation team bringing mass-action lawsuits to challenge unlawful visa processing delays.

Prior to joining Siskind Susser, Ms. Axelrod worked at the intersection of immigration law and criminal defense at Masferrer & Associates in Boston, Massachusetts. She represented clients accused of felonies and misdemeanors before local, state, and federal courts, including appeals and post-conviction relief such as motions for new trial. She also defended clients in removal proceedings before the Boston Immigration Court, focusing on finding creative strategies for clients with criminal records.

Ms. Axelrod graduated with honors from Harvard Law School, where she served as President of the Harvard Immigration Project and an editor of the Harvard Latino Law Review. As a law student, Ms. Axelrod provided over 1500 hours of pro bono legal services through the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic, the Harvard Criminal Justice Institute, and Greater Boston Legal Services. She also served as a legal intern with the Project on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ProDESC) in Mexico City.

A graduate of Brown University, Ms. Axelrod earned a bachelor’s degree in Public Policy and Latin American Studies, focusing her studies on immigration. As an undergraduate, she spent eight months living in Mexico, studying the effects of immigration on social movements, and volunteering as a human rights observer in an indigenous Zapatista community facing displacement from their lands. Ms. Axelrod serves as liaison to the Memphis Immigration Court for the Mid-South Chapter of AILA. She is also a member of the International Bar Association (IBA), the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild (NIP-NLG), and the Memphis Bar Association. She is licensed to practice in Massachusetts, and practices exclusively in the area of immigration and nationality law.

The American Immigration Lawyers Association is the national association of immigration lawyers established to promote justice, advocate for fair and reasonable immigration law and policy, advance the quality of immigration and nationality law and practice, and enhance the professional development of its members.