AILA Recognizes Suzanne Brown with the 2017 Sam Williamson Mentor Award

WASHINGTON, DC - The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) will recognize Suzanne Brown, of St. Louis, MO, with the 2017 Sam Williamson Mentor Award in acknowledgment of her outstanding efforts and excellent counsel to immigration attorneys by providing mentoring assistance. The award will be presented this week during AILA's Annual Conference in New Orleans, LA.

Suzanne Brown recently retired from an active immigration law practice. Through the years, Ms. Brown has dedicated herself and her practice to helping both new and experienced immigration lawyers develop the substantive knowledge and professional skills necessary to exemplify the highest standards of our profession, while also helping them to develop and demonstrate their commitments to the communities they serve.

As founder of the Immigration Project, a nonprofit pro bono immigration legal services agency serving downstate Illinois, Ms. Brown served as its executive director from 1987 until April 1995. She was also a founding member of the Chicago Coalition for Refugee and Immigrant Protection, now known as the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, a past board member of the Illinois Inter-Agency Committee for Migrant Affairs, and a member of the late Senator Paul Simon's Advisory Committee to the United States Senate's Democratic Task Force on Hispanic Concerns. More recently, Ms. Brown served as a board member of the Migrant and Immigrant Community Action Project in St. Louis.

In 1995, the Lawyers Trust of Illinois gave special recognition to Ms. Brown as "a lawyer who had dedicated her career to the cause of equal access to justice and who represents the highest ideals of the legal profession." In 2008, Ms. Brown received the Richard B. Teitelman Distinguished Service Award from the Legal Services of Eastern Missouri's Volunteer Lawyer Program, and in October 2011, she received the University of Illinois' annual Alumni Humanitarian Award. Ms. Brown has twice served as Chapter Chair of AILA's Missouri/Kansas Chapter, as well as on the Nebraska Service Center Liaison Committee. She also volunteers through AILA's mentoring program in several practice areas.

She holds a B.A. in History from the University of Massachusetts, an M.A. in Legal Studies from the University of Illinois, and a J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis.

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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.