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Professor Violeta Chapin, who leads our Immigration Defense Clinic, was recently honored by the Boulder Chamber of Commerce as one of their 2025 Women Who Light the Community! This honor celebrates women who have made significant contributions to the Boulder community through leadership, advocacy, and service. Professor Chapin's work in the Immigration Defense Clinic has empowered countless students and clients, advancing justice and equity both inside and outside the classroom. Her recognition reflects not only her deep commitment to public service, but also the transformative impact of clinical education at Colorado Law.��

Chapin shared: “The community is the focus of this award, and I’m delighted that my students and I in the Immigration Clinic at Colorado Law have been able to support and uplift so many of our immigrant community members.”

In her remarks, Professor Chapin told the stories of two clients that the clinic has helped, noting the legal barriers these individuals had to navigate and how the support of the Immigration Defense Clinic helped them accomplish some of their goals. Chapin expressed her gratitude toward the Boulder community for supporting the clinic's work, noting that she and her students have “...been able to help our immigrant clients in concrete ways because of this community support, and it never fails to remind me that it takes a village, a small but mighty village, to do this work.”��

Professor Violeta Chapin joined the Colorado Law faculty after serving for seven years as a trial attorney with the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS). She has represented both adult and juvenile indigent defendants charged with serious felony offenses at all stages of trial. Prior to her work as a public defender, Professor Chapin had clinical experience performing appellate litigation in a capital case on behalf of a death row inmate, working together with attorneys at the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama. Professor Chapin also worked with incarcerated youth in Louisiana and monitored the state's compliance with a consent decree to provide a safe and rehabilitative environment to children imprisoned in detention centers across the state.����

Professor Chapin brings a wealth of experience of working with indigent populations outside of the United States as well, as she previously worked with poor farmers and families in rural El Salvador in an internationally funded water project. Born in and having lived in Central America, Professor Chapin brings a rich cultural background and a firm commitment to justice for all people to Colorado Law.��

We are honored to have Professor Chapin as part of our faculty and celebrate her continued leadership and impact on both the law school and the wider Boulder community.����