Sameer Ashar
Expertise:
Clinical Legal Education; Law and Social Movements; Labor Law; Immigration Law; Legal Profession
Background:
Sameer Ashar has worked with students to defend immigrants in deportation proceedings and low-wage workers in litigation against exploitative employers in clinics at five law schools. He has also worked with students on numerous policy advocacy and community education projects in collaboration with immigrant and labor organizations in California, New York, and Maryland. Ashar writes about law, lawyering, and social movements across multiple subject areas, including labor law, immigration law, and the legal profession. The focus of his scholarship is on how law and lawyering both inhibits and enables collective action against racial and economic subordination. Ashar has published most recently in Clinical Law Review, Law & Contemporary Problems, Fordham Law Review, Daedalus, and UCLA Law Review and is the inaugural recipient of the Stephen Ellmann Memorial Clinical Scholarship Award, given by the AALS Section on Clinical Education.
(Log in to view full course descriptions in the UCI Law Course Catalog)
- Pedagogy of Prefiguration, 132 Yale Law Journal Forum 869 (2023)
- Movement Law (with Amna Akbar & Jocelyn Simonson), 73 Stanford Law Review 821 (2021)
- Critical Theory and Clinical Stance (with Wendy A. Bach), 26 Clinical Law Review 81 (2019)
- Democratic Norms and Governance Experimentalism in Worker Centers (with Catherine Fisk), 82 Law & Contemporary Problems 141 (2019)
- DACA, Government Lawyers, and the Public Interest (with Stephen Lee), 87 Fordham Law Review 1879 (2019); reprinted, Bender’s Immigration Bulletin (2019)
- Access to Power (with Annie Lai), 148 Dædalus 82 (2019)
- Case Study 1: Movement Groups with Flat, Innovative Governance Structures (with Meena Jagannath), 47 Hofstra Law Review 19 (2018)
- Movement Lawyers in the Fight for Immigrant Rights, 64 UCLA Law Review 1464 (2017)
- Deep Critique and Democratic Lawyering in Clinical Practice, 104 California Law Review 201 (2016)
- January 2025
Distinguished Visitor, University of Toronto Faculty of Law. Prof. Ashar taught the intensive course, “Toward Abolition Democracy: Law, Lawyers, and Social Movements” (more information here) - June 29, 2024
“Migrant Labor Organizing in Racial Capitalist Regimes in California," Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE) conference, University of Limerick - February 10, 2024: ClassCrits XIV, themed “Demanding Justice in the Face of Retrenchment: Finding Common Ground and Building Coalition Across Borders.” Panel discussion, “The History and Future of the Labor Union Movement”
- April 30, 2023: Panelist, Pedagogical Tools for Client-Centered Lawyering in a Movement Context: Examples from Immigrant Rights Advocacy, 2023 Conference on Clinical Legal Education
- April 20, 2023: Panelist, Pedagogy of Prefiguration, Modern Legal Education and the Unmaking of American Lawyers at University of Pittsburgh School of Law
- Los Angeles Times: Prison company retaliated against detained immigrants, labor board says*
- Faculty Roundup (January 2025)
- UC Irvine Law Rings in 2025 with National Leadership Roles in Law, Policy and Academia
- Workers, Law, and Organizing Clinic Drives National Labor Relations Board Complaint Protecting Detained Immigrant Workers
- Workers, Law, and Organizing Clinic: National Labor Relations Board Files Complaint Against GEO Group for Retaliation Against Workers at Mesa Verde Detention Facility
- Faculty Roundup: The Latest Highlights From UCI Law’s Faculty (July 2024)
- Faculty Roundup: The latest highlights from UCI Law’s faculty
- UCI School of Social Ecology: New book tells DAPA story
- Faculty Roundup: The latest highlights from UCI Law’s faculty
- UCI Law Leadership and Presenters at 2024 AALS Annual Meeting: “Defending Democracy”
- National Jurist: UC Irvine opens new Labor Center
- UC Irvine Labor Center opens on campus
- Law 360: Amazon Effort Shows Difficulty Of Inland Empire Organizing
- Precinct Reporter: Prof. Ashar discusses UCI Law’s new race curriculum requirement and the Newmeyer Dillion Diversity Scholarship
- UCI Law: Community Statement on Chauvin Verdict from Sameer Ashar and Song Richardson
- Daily Journal: Prof. Ashar quoted on UCI Law’s commitment to developing curriculum focused on the intersection of race, racism and the law
- UCI Law: A Message from Associate Dean for Equity Initiatives Sameer Ashar on Black History Month
- Orange County Register: Prof. Ashar quoted on health crisis in immigrant dentetion centers
- LAist: Prof. Ashar comments on flaws within the U.S. asylum system
- Politifact: Prof. Ashar quoted on Sen. Harris’s remarks on immigration enforcement
- Orange County Register: Prof. Ashar comments on ethical issues of lawyers in car wash mogul wage theft case
- KPCC: Prof. Ashar quoted: Wage theft also a problem in global logistics warehouses
- The Conversation: Prof. Ashar co-writes piece onimpact of Trump's policies on undocumented immigrantsts