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David Koelsch

David C. Koelsch is an Associate Professor and Director of the Immigration Law Clinic and the Asylum Law Clinic at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. The Immigration Law Clinic represents immigrants on a variety of legal issues, including abandoned immigrant children and abused immigrant women. Professor Koelsch also teaches U.S. Immigration Law and a comparative U.S.-Canada Immigration Law course as well as a Seminar on Spirituality and the Law. Koelsch was named the 2009 Outstanding Immigration Law Professor by the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Blog Entry 11

Posted by David Koelsch on Thursday, 20 October 2011 in Faculty Blogs

The summer semester recently ended and the students and I can breathe a (brief) sigh of relief. The summer semester compresses a 14-week semester into seven weeks and it is, to say the least, intense. The students this summer were an amazing collection of rising 3Ls and one student in her final semester of law school. Some of them had taken Immigration Law from me and thought they knew what to expect going into the summer term a...

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Blog Entry 10

Posted by David Koelsch on Thursday, 20 October 2011 in Faculty Blogs

Sometimes we gain more from our clients than they gain from us. As each semester closes, I encourage my students to think back about the lives they have touched these past few months – and how their lives have been touched by their clients. The relationship between my students and our clients is professional and all facets of the attorney-client ethical rules govern that relationship. But, as in all human interactions, some peop...

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Blog Entry 9

Posted by David Koelsch on Thursday, 20 October 2011 in Faculty Blogs

One of the great things about UDM Law School is the array of events going on every day at the school. The flyers and posters nearly covering the doors and hallways are evidence of an engaged student body on any number of issues. OK, so MY issue is Immigration Law and this week the Immigration Law Student Association hosted Tahani Afaneh, the general counsel at U.S. Customs and Border Protection for an informal lunch gathering with their mem...

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Blog Entry 8

Posted by David Koelsch on Thursday, 20 October 2011 in Faculty Blogs

The best way to learn all there is to know about a particular topic is to teach and to live it. This week, students in the Immigration Law Clinic prepared for and conducted a training session at the Chaldean Federation of America to help the staff at the CFA understand immigration law and procedures. The students explained the nuances of filing an Alien Relative Petition, an Application for Adjustment of Status and an Application for ...

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Blog Entry 7

Posted by David Koelsch on Thursday, 20 October 2011 in Faculty Blogs

Every area of law practice probably has it's one moment of shining glory. The transaction is closed, the bridge is built, the defendant is found guilty or innocent. For Immigration Law, the best moment is when an immigrant for whom you have worked for many years becomes a U.S. Citizen.Just yesterday, a longstanding client of the Immigration Law Clinic became a U.S. Citizen at a ceremony at the Federal Courthouse in downtown Detroit. S...

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Blog Entry 6

Posted by David Koelsch on Thursday, 20 October 2011 in Faculty Blogs

One of the best things about being a law school professor is having the opportunity to coach a Moot Court team. This coming weekend, UDM will field a team at the Asylum Law Competition at UC-Davis in Sacramento. The team (Joanne Golden, Scott Foess, and Kyle Butler) has been hard at work since early-December writing a professional-quality brief, crafting their legal arguments, and practicing for endless hours in front of panels of jud...

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Blog Entry 5

Posted by David Koelsch on Thursday, 20 October 2011 in Faculty Blogs

Just like when you play Monopoly, going to jail is no fun. It is, however, instructive to me and my students. Most immigrants detained by the Department of Homeland Security in Michigan are housed at the Calhoun County Jail in Battle Creek. Needless to say, this is not the most convenient location for either detainees’ families or their attorneys, given the nearly two hours drive from Detroit. This past Saturday morning, ...

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Blog Entry 4

Posted by David Koelsch on Thursday, 20 October 2011 in Faculty Blogs

Witnessing the resilience of the human spirit is a true gift to my students and me. This past week, two students and I met with a woman who is married to a U.S. citizen who mentally and verbally abused her and physically abused her son. The students had never met the woman before and I had only met her once before. I provided the students with a brief background on the client and her history: she is a “mail order bride” fr...

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Blog Entry 3

Posted by David Koelsch on Thursday, 20 October 2011 in Faculty Blogs

Our students never cease to amaze me. We are in the midst of final exams right now and some students are looking a little haggard (so are some professors, present company included!). Law school final exams are unique: a term’s worth of incredibly dense material is packed into one test and that test is generally heavy on essays and applying the law to the facts of a hypothetical fact pattern. They are not easy and students ...

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Blog Entry 2

Posted by David Koelsch on Thursday, 20 October 2011 in Faculty Blogs

Another good day! This morning, one of my students, Felix, obtained lawful permanent residency for a man from Uzbekistan. This man has been a client of the Immigration Law Clinic since 2003 and at least seven students have worked on his case. He had a very strong asylum application but, as fate would have it, his daughter was studying in the U.S. and met her future husband, who sponsored her for a green card. Our client’s daugh...

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