Legal Action Center Staff

Emily Creighton, Staff Attorney
202-507-7500 ext. 7505 (ecreighton@immcouncil.org)

Emily Creighton is a staff attorney at the Legal Action Center. She has represented plaintiffs and amicus curiae before the Board of Immigration Appeals and numerous federal courts. Ms. Creighton graduated cum laude from American University Washington College of Law in 2006. Prior to law school, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine.

Melissa Crow, Director
202-507-7500 ext. 7523 (mcrow@immcouncil.org)

Melissa Crow is the Director of the Legal Action Center. Ms. Crow served as the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, and previously as a Senior Policy Advisor, in the Office of Immigration and Border Security at the Department of Homeland Security. Prior to joining DHS, she was a partner with Brown, Goldstein & Levy in Baltimore, Maryland, where she developed a thriving immigration practice and undertook litigation to protect immigrants' rights in the workplace. As the past co-chair of the Worksite Enforcement Committee of the local AILA chapter, she played a critical role in responding to immigration raids in Maryland under the Bush Administration. Before entering private practice, Melissa served as Counsel to Senator Edward M. Kennedy during the 2007 debates on the U.S. Senate's comprehensive immigration reform bill. She also spent a year as the Gulf Coast Policy Attorney at the National Immigration Law Center. She has taught in the Safe Harbor Clinic at Brooklyn Law School and the International Human Rights Clinic at Washington College of Law.

Seth Garfinkel, Legal Assistant
202-507-7500 ext. 7516 (sgarfinkel@immcouncil.org)

Seth Garfinkel is the Legal Assistant at the Legal Action Center. As a student at Macalester College, Seth studied abroad in Senegal where he interned at the Association for the Development of Senegal – a grassroots organization working to diminish rural-urban migration through infrastructural development in Senegalese villages. After graduation, Seth was awarded a World Partners Fellowship to spend a year studying international development in India and working at the National Centre for Advocacy Studies. More recently, Seth served as a Congressional Intern in the office of U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar. Seth holds a B.A. in International Studies from Macalester College with a concentration on issues of human rights and humanitarianism.

Mary Kenney, Senior Staff Attorney
202-507-7500 ext. 7512 (mkenney@immcouncil.org)

Mary Kenney is the senior staff attorney with the Legal Action Center. Ms. Kenney was counsel in Ngwanyia v. Ashcroft, a national asylee adjustment class action. She has litigated cases at the Board of Immigration Appeals and in various federal courts around the country. Prior to joining the American Immigration Council, she spent seven years as the Executive Director for the Texas Lawyers' Committee, a statewide immigrant and refugee rights project. She also was a legal services attorney for eleven years. Ms. Kenney received her J.D. degree from Antioch School of Law. Ms. Kenney is admitted to practice law in West Virginia; her practice is limited to cases in federal courts and before the immigration agencies.

Kristin Macleod-Ball, Fellow
202-507-7500 ext. 7520 (kmacleod-ball@immcouncil.org)

Kristin Macleod-Ball is a Yale Public Interest Fellow with the Legal Action Center. While a law student, she served clients seeking relief in immigration court, applying for benefits with USCIS and challenging racial profiling by local police. Kristin helped to document problematic examples of state and local involvement in immigration enforcement as an intern with AILA. She has also worked with legal services organizations to advocate on behalf of tenants in foreclosed properties and residents of manufactured housing. Prior to law school, Kristin worked with WITNESS, an organization that assisted locally-based non-profits around the world to produce and distribute human rights advocacy videos. She is a graduate of Bard College and Yale Law School.

Patrick Taurel, DACA Legal Services Fellow
202-507-7500 ext. 7526 (ptaurel@immcouncil.org)

Patrick Taurel is the DACA Legal Services Fellow at the Legal Action Center. Prior to joining the LAC, Mr. Taurel was an associate attorney with Andrade Law Office in Boise, Idaho, where he represented noncitizens before USCIS, EOIR, federal courts, and U.S. consulates abroad. He graduated cum laude from Brooklyn Law School in 2010 and he received his B.A. in Philosophy from Brown University in 2004.

Beth Werlin, Deputy Director
202-507-7500 ext. 7522 (bwerlin@immcouncil.org)

Beth Werlin is the Deputy Director and Litigation Clearinghouse Attorney at the Legal Action Center. The Litigation Clearinghouse serves as a national point of contact for lawyers conducting or contemplating immigration litigation. Ms. Werlin joined the American Immigration Council as a NAPIL Fellow in 2001 and was a staff attorney from 2003 until 2005. She has represented plaintiffs and amicus curiae in immigration litigation in the federal courts and before the Board of Immigration Appeals. Ms. Werlin is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts; her practice is limited to cases in federal courts and before the immigration agencies.