Alumnus Ubaid ul-Haq ’11 Takes On New Role as Adjunct Professor at AUWCL
This semester, alumnus Ubaid ul-Haq (LL.M. ’11) returns to campus as an adjunct professor teaching Asylum and Refugee Law. In addition to his new position at the law school, ul-Haq works at the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the Civil Division’s Office of Immigration Litigation. As he returns to campus this fall, he shares what he looks forward to and what he hopes students gain from the course.
Q: What made you decide to return to AUWCL as an adjunct professor?
A: I had enjoyed immensely my one year as an LL.M. student at WCL. As I have told everyone that will listen – that one year at WCL was more beneficial for my career than three years of law school. I was exposed to internship and networking opportunities that I would otherwise never have enjoyed had I not enrolled in the Law and Government Program. For a long time, I have had a strong desire to teach professional students. Combining this desire with my passion for immigration law has allowed me to give back to the WCL community, and has offered me so much as well.
Q: Describe the course that you will be teaching: Asylum & Refugee Law.
A: There have been several amazing professors who have taught this course before me whose knowledge and instruction, I hope, that I can do justice (i.e., Professors David McConnell and Natalie Nanasi). The course is designed to give in-depth treatment to asylum law that is normally not available within the purview of a survey immigration law course. I have designed the course with special emphasis on practical application of asylum law concepts, though black-letter statutes and regulations will definitely provide a structure for the course. Given the practical focus, the main assignment in the course will be a trial-level briefing exercise that will encourage students to interpret real-world open legal questions. I hope also to keep students up-to-date about the most recent developments in asylum and refugee law, as new administrative and federal opinions published almost weekly may radically change the landscape in this discipline.
Q: What do you hope your students walk away with after taking the course?
A: I sincerely hope that students appreciate the grave circumstances that surround most asylum claims. Applicants for asylum seek refuge in the United States because they are fleeing dangerous circumstances in their home countries. The United States serves as the brightest beacon of hope for many helpless individuals that find themselves on our shores and borders. I hope that students walk away from this course knowing that they would be lucky to serve on both sides of the aisle in determining meritorious asylum claims. I hope that students acknowledge the ethical challenges they will face in trying such cases. And of course, I hope that students feel that this course will have prepared them to stand ready in a court of law to present or defend any challenge to an application for asylum, withholding of removal, or protection under the Convention Against Torture. Hopefully, students will also walk away with a quality writing sample to provide to any immigration law firm, agency, or non-profit organization to which they will apply in the future for employment.
Q: Does teaching complement what you do at the Department of Justice? How so?
A: I find that teaching any course on immigration law assists me in maintaining my edge as a litigator. It requires me to be current on the latest case developments. It allows me to engage highly intellectual students who will challenge my own understanding of the law. While I have not practiced for as long as many of my colleagues at the DOJ, I find that we all manage to find ourselves confined by the proverbial “box” when analyzing statutes, cases, and arguments. Students have an amazing way of thinking outside the limits of this box, often questioning why things are the way they are. To the extent that I am able to relearn this broader method of legal analysis, I feel that I will grow as an attorney and perhaps in the future, as an adjudicator.
Q: What are you most looking forward to as an instructor?
A: Student enthusiasm and involvement. Asylum law is a rapidly expanding and exciting body of law that is highly complex and nuanced. I imagine that students that have chosen to enroll in this course have, like me, decided to make a career in immigration and nationality law. It is arguably the noblest legal specialty given the assistance that practitioners will provide low-income, non-English-speaking individuals that find themselves at the mercy of such a complicated system, or, on the other side, facilitating the return of individuals that might otherwise be a threat to the security of our nation. Someone told me that if I am able to able to provide the necessary skill set to one future asylum law litigator, I will have succeeded. I sincerely hope to do that for all the students that enroll in this course.
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