Immigration attorney Jill Martin Diaz, former professor and director of the Center for Justice Reform at Vermont Law and Graduate School, has joined the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project as its first executive director. VAAP is a statewide organization that recruits, trains and mentors lawyers and lay advocates to provide humanitarian status seekers in Vermont with no-cost legal services and support.
In their new position, Martin Diaz will grow VAAP’s capacity to address Vermont’s critical shortage of immigration legal services, which studies show will exponentially increase individuals’ likelihood of success. They will also serve as legal director for Connecting Cultures/New England Survivors of Torture and Trauma.
“In Jill Martin Diaz, VAAP is thrilled to have secured for its first full-time executive director one of the most well-respected, dynamic and successful immigration lawyers in the field,” said board president Erin Jacobsen. “The VAAP board looks forward to supporting Jill in realizing their vision and carrying out VAAP's mission.”
Martin Diaz is a summa cum laude graduate of George Washington University and holds a law degree, cum laude, from Brooklyn Law School.