Executive Director
Operations
Asylum Program
Detention Program
PAIR Fellows

Executive Director

Sarah Ignatius, Esq., is the Executive Director of the PAIR Project. She received her J.D., from Georgetown University Law Center where she was Articles Editor for the Journal of Law and Policy in International Business; and her B.A., with Distinction & Honors, from Stanford University. Sarah serves as Steering Committee Chair of the National Immigrant Bond Fund. She lectured on immigration law for ten years as an Adjunct at Boston College Law School. She co-authored the comprehensive book Immigration Law and the Family (Thomson West); and authored: “Restricting the Rights of Asylum-Seekers: The New Legislative and Administrative Proposals,” 7 Harvard Human Rights Journal 225 (1994); “Haitian Asylum-Seekers” 7 Georgetown Immigration Law Journal 119 (1993); “Asylum: Country-Wide Persecution”; 21 Immigration Newsletter 1, National Immigration Project (1993) and numerous other articles. In 1993, Sarah was the principal researcher and author of An Assessment of the Asylum Process of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (1993), a nationwide study of the Asylum Officer program, conducted through Harvard Law School and funded by the Ford Foundation. Previously, she worked as Executive Director & Legal Director of Northwest Immigrants Rights Project in Seattle; associate at Wickwire, Goldmark & Schorr in Seattle; Staff Attorney at the Seattle-King County Public Defender; and Law Clerk for the Honorable William C. Pryor, District of Columbia Court of Appeals, Washington, D.C. She joined PAIR in 1993. Contact: signatius@pairproject.org; (617) 742-9296 ext. 5

[back to top]

Operations

Amy Mercure is the Development and Administrative Assistant at the PAIR Project. She received her Masters in Library Science from Simmons College and her B.A. from Boston University. She has several years of Development experience as well as experience in administration. She joined PAIR in 2011.

Contact: amercure@pairproject.org (617) 742-9296 ext. 8

[back to top]

Asylum Program

Anita P. Sharma, Esq., is the Asylum Attorney at the PAIR Project. Anita received her LL.M. in International Legal Studies from American University Law School, concentrating in Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. She earned her J.D., from Suffolk University Law School and graduated with distinction in the Intellectual Property and High Technology Law concentration. She received her B.A., in English Literature from Suffolk University. Anita is currently an adjunct professor of English at Suffolk University. She serves as co-chair of the Liaison Committee on Asylum for the New England Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and as the 2010-2012 co-chair for the newly formed Immigration Section of the Boston Bar Association. Anita is also an advisory council member of Public International Law and Policy Group (PILPG). She was selected for the 2008-09 Boston Bar Association Public Interest Leadership Program. Anita received the BBA's John G. Brooks Public Service Award in 2006 for her outstanding representation of asylum-seekers and for serving as a mentor to hundreds of pro bono lawyers who represent PAIR clients. She previously worked at WARLAW, a Delhi-based NGO that focuses on women’s rights in India. Anita joined PAIR in 2002. Contact: asharma@pairproject.org; (617) 742-9296 ext. 2

[back to top]

Detention Program

Heather J. Friedman, Esq., is the Detention Attorney at the PAIR Project. Heather received her J.D., from Harvard Law School where she focused on human rights, immigration, and environmental law. She received her A.B., in Russian History and Literature from Harvard College. Prior to joining PAIR, Heather practiced immigration law at Graves & Doyle in Boston; volunteered with the asylum project at the International Institute in Boston; served as Associate Director of Yale Law School’s Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights; and was a Fellow at Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger, a San Francisco firm specializing in environmental and land use law. She joined PAIR in 2008. Heather speaks Spanish and French. Contact: hfriedman@pairproject.org; (617) 742-9296 ext. 4

Antonio P. Castro Aranda is the Pro Bono Detention Manager at PAIR. He coordinates the Pro Bono AILA Panel, in collaboration with the Boston Immigration Court and the New England Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), the Pro Bono Law Firm Panel, as well as partnerships with five area law schools. He is an Accredited Representative with the Board of Immigration Appeals. Antonio received his law degree from the UNED Law School in Madrid, Spain. Previously, he worked at the International Institute of Boston as the Managing Paralegal of its Immigration Clinic and as a volunteer for its asylum program. He has worked for a number of years as an immigration law paralegal at private law offices and as a volunteer mediator at the Brookline District Court, through the Harvard Mediation Program at Harvard Law School. He joined PAIR in 2007. Antonio is fluent in Spanish. Contact: acaranda@pairproject.org; (617) 742-9296 ext. 6

 

[back to top]

PAIR Fellows

Tilman Jacobs is a Fellow at the PAIR Project.  He received his J.D. with a Certificate in Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was Article Selection Editor for the Georgetown Immigration Law Journal. While at Georgetown Law, Tilman represented asylum seekers in the Baltimore and Arlington immigration courts through Georgetown's asylum clinic and the Capital Area Immigrants' Rights Coalition, represented affirmative asylum applicants in the San Francisco Asylum Office through the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, and was a Stronach Fellow at the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies in San Francisco. Tilman also holds a master's degree in international policy studies from Middlebury College's Monterey Institute of International Studies and speaks German, Spanish, and Swedish. Contact: 617-742-9296 ext. 315.

Martha Koster is a 2012 Access to Justice Fellow, working with the PAIR Project.  She is a member in Mintz Levin’s Litigation Section, where she has concentrated her practice on environmental and insurance issues. Martha is a member of the Board of the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation (MLAC).  She is a former President and longtime Board member of Greater Boston Legal Services as well as a past Treasurer and two-term Council member of the Boston Bar Association. Martha has been an adjunct faculty member at New England School of Law.  Martha is one of the Mintz Levin attorneys who worked with the Mississippi Center for Justice and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law to provide legal services for low income residents of Mississippi severely impacted by Hurricane Katrina, work for which the firm was awarded the 2011 Adams Pro Bono Publico Award and was honored by the Mississippi Center for Justice.  She received the 2008 Victor Garo Public Service Award from Boston University School of Law and is a past recipient of the Dow Landrum Gardner Award from Greater Boston Legal Services and the Mintz Levin Pro Bono Award.  Martha attended the University of Chicago Law School and received her J.D. cum laude from Boston University School of Law.  She received her A.B. with distinction from Smith College.  Martha also holds an MFA in creative writing from Emerson College.

Sarah Sherman-Stokes is an Equal Justice Works Fellow with the PAIR Project. She received her J.D. cum laude from Boston College Law School. She received her B.A. in Latin American Studies cum laude from Bates College in 2005. Sarah joined PAIR in 2011 and speaks Spanish. Contact: sshermanstokes@pairproject.org (617) 742-9296 ext. 316

 

[back to top]