Amy has spent her legal career serving low-income clients and trauma survivors. “We are very happy to have found a new Legal Director with such an impressive range and depth of experience in serving immigrants and clients living in poverty,” said Kevin Piecuch, Executive Director of SWIRC. “We live in a time of significant changes for our client community, as well as lots of growth for our organization. We’re confident that Amy can help us expand and enhance our services to reach more clients and serve them in more ways.”
As Legal Director, Amy will oversee SWIRC’s caseload and ensure that staff and volunteers are supported as they provide high-quality services to clients. “This role is especially important as SWIRC undertakes new projects to meet pressing community needs,” noted board chair Jonathan Contreras. “For example, we are launching a new partnership with Centro Multicultural La Familia, in order to serve domestic violence survivors, thanks to a generous grant from the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan.”
For her part, Amy says she’s excited for the opportunity to support SWIRC’s of client-centered services. “For many low-income individuals and families, legal advocacy has the capacity to transform lives. I am very happy to be working with the dedicated staff and volunteers at SWIRC to serve our resilient, diverse communities.”
After graduating from the University of Michigan Law School, Amy began her legal career representing low-income survivors of domestic violence in family law and immigration cases, first as a Skadden Fellow and then as the supervising attorney at Women Empowered Against Violence in Washington, D.C. She then spent seven years at American University’s Washington College of Law, where she taught the Domestic Violence Clinic, the Women and the Law Clinic, the Immigrant Justice Clinic, and the International Human Rights Clinic. Prior to joining SWIRC, she worked at the Michigan Advocacy Program, supervising the Crime Victims Legal Assistance Project (CVLAP), a statewide program that serves domestic violence survivors in family law, immigration, and other matters. Amy is also an adjunct professor teaching Family Law at her alma mater. She serves on the boards of SOS Community Services in Washtenaw County and the National Alliance for Safe Housing.
The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan is a full-service philanthropic organization leading the way to positive change in our region. As a permanent community endowment built by gifts from thousands of individuals and organizations, the Foundation supports a wide variety of activities benefiting education, arts and culture, health, human services, community development, and civic affairs. Since its inception, the Foundation has distributed more than $1 billion through nearly 67,000 grants to nonprofit organizations throughout Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Monroe, Washtenaw, St. Clair, and Livingston counties. For more information, please visit www.cfsem.org.
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The Southwest Detroit Immigrant and Refugee Center provides free and low-cost legal services to those who need them most in the Detroit area, with a focus on recent immigrants and refugees.
We were founded in 2014 by Kevin Piecuch, our Executive Director
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