Suzy Firestone knows that her work makes a difference. She recently won an asylum case for a woman and her child who fled Guatemala after suffering severe domestic violence.
“It was someone I had worked with for a year and a half, so it was an extremely satisfying win,” she said.
Early in her career Firestone served as an AmeriCorps volunteer providing direct services for immigrants at a crisis agency. Her experience became the catalyst for her life’s work.
“I realized through that work that what people really needed was legal advocacy,” she said. “That’s when I made the decision to attend law school.”
As a Justice for All Fellow at Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio, Firestone’s work helps address the overwhelming number of Central Americans feeling to the U.S. to escape violence and poverty. She provides a full range of legal services to low-income immigrant children and their families including representing immigrant domestic violence survivors on civil protection order cases as part of a collaboration with the YWCA of Cincinnati on the Family Justice Center project.
Firestone is committed and has no plans to stop anytime soon.
“I am staying with legal aid, so I’ll continue the work I’ve started with the fellowship,” she said “I’m very happy about that.”