Time and Date:
January  5, 2007
11:30AM to 1:30PM
This session is required for volunteers.

Location:
Faegre and Benson LLP
Century Room
2200 Wells Fargo Center
90 South Seventh Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402

For map and directions, click here.

Please RSVP to Kim Babine, kbabine@mnadvocates.org.

Application will be made for 2 standard CLE credits.

Biographies

Jennifer Prestholdt is the Deputy Director of The Advocates for Human Rights. Ms. Prestholdt has a B.A. in political science from Yale and a M.A.L.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where she studied international human rights law and international refugee policy. She graduated cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1996.

Ms. Prestholdt has worked on refugee and asylum issues for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland. She has also interned for the Reebok Human Rights Program and the United Nations Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination Against and Protection of Minorities. Prior to becoming Deputy Director of The Advocates for Human Rights, Ms. Prestholdt practiced asylum law for five years as the Director of the Refugee and Immigrant Program. As The Advocates’ Deputy Director, she assists in fundraising for and directing organizational operations. Ms. Prestholdt also supervises the development and administration of special projects dealing with emerging human rights issues, including the International Human Rights Monitoring Project. Ms. Prestholdt is an adjunct faculty member at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, where she teaches International Human Rights Law.

Michele Garnett McKenzie is the Director of The Advocates for Human Rights’ Refugee & Immigrant Program, where she directs the pro bono Asylum Project, client services, and advocacy on legal issues affecting refugees and immigrants. She received her J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School, and her B.A. from Macalester College in Saint Paul. Prior to her work at The Advocates, Ms. McKenzie worked in private immigration practice in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and as a Judicial Law Clerk for the Executive Office for Immigration Review in Arizona and Nevada. She has served as an adjunct faculty member of William Mitchell College of Law and as co-chair of the Minnesota State Bar Association Human Rights Committee. She is a frequent lecturer on immigration and asylum law. Ms. McKenzie is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Minnesota State Bar Association. She is admitted to practice in the State of Minnesota and the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.

Demenia Gbarbea Kaine came to the U.S. from Liberia in 1982 and graduated from Henry High School in Minneapolis. She has a B.A. in nursing from Bethel University and a Masters in nursing from the University of Minnesota, with a focus in women's health. She has worked as a public health nurse and a nurse practitioner. In 2003-2004, she returned to Liberia with the American Refugee Committee and worked as a Health Manager in an internally-displaced persons camp, overseeing health services, supervising staff and providing training in HIV/AIDS, gender-based violence, as well as other issues. She returned to Liberia in 2004 and remained there until May of 2005. While there, she volunteered with Lutheran World Services in their HIV/AIDS program. She has also provided training for staff working with former child soldiers. This fall, Demenia will begin working as an instructor in the nursing program at Normandale College. In addition, she will be co-facilitating youth groups for the Liberian community along with the Center for Victims of Torture (CVT); she will also be assisting CVT with their Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder/health management groups with Health Partners.

Ahmed Sirleaf is a human rights advocate and scholar who has a special interest in efforts to implement transitional justice initiatives in societies that have experienced severe violence. His work includes study of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission process in his native Liberia. In this connection, he has helped to lead the successful effort to include Liberians living in the Diaspora outside of Liberia in the truth commission process in Liberia. He holds an M.A. in International Law and the Settlement of Disputes from the University for Peace (United Nations mandated), San Jose, Costa Rica, and a B.A. in Legal Studies from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Additionally, Ahmed earned a Paralegal Certificate from Hamline University as well, and has briefly worked as a paralegal. He has studied at the International Center for Transitional Justice with its New York University’s School of Law’s joint transitional justice Essentials Course training in New York. He currently serves on the Board of Conflict Resolution Minnesota (CRM) and is working at The Advocates for Human Rights on the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission Project.

Laura Young is the Wellstone Legal Fellow at The Advocates for Human Rights.  Laura received her B.A. from the University of Virginia.  She received her J.D. magna cum laude in 2005 from the University of Minnesota Law School and received her Master of Public Health from Emory University in 1999.  Ms. Young has worked on criminal law and human rights issues throughout her professional career, specifically violence against women and the death penalty.  Ms. Young was a domestic violence educator and volunteer trainer at the Women’s Center of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, was employed by the Mexican Capital Legal Assistance Project, which provides legal representation to Mexican nationals facing capital punishment in the U.S, and most recently was a judicial clerk for the Hon. Wilhelmina M. Wright of the Minnesota Court of Appeals.