From the May 2024 Pro Bono Newsletter: 

Dedicated to the cause of justice, Attorney Amanda Gennerman serves as a pro bono champion in the field of immigration law. With over two decades of commitment to serving low-income immigrant communities, providing pro-bono legal representation has become an important cornerstone of her career.

Getting Started

Attorney Gennerman received her bachelor's degree from UW Madison with a double major in Women's Studies and Afro-American Studies. Through these disciplines, she saw a consistent theme: marginalized communities were highly impacted by law and policy. It was this realization that sparked her path into law school.

As an undergrad at UW Madison, Attorney Gennerman volunteered at the Allied Drive Community afterschool program and worked at the Campus Women's Center. During her senior year she interned at the Rape Crisis Center where she ran support services at the Dane County Jail, working with incarcerated women who had experienced domestic and sexual violence. These experiences activated her commitment to advocacy.

Attorney Gennerman was drawn to the University of Denver College of Law because it offered clinical opportunities for law students to work with survivors of domestic violence. During her time at the University of Denver, there was not a specific clinic designated to serving immigrant communities. But when an immigration deportation case crossed the desk of the Civil Rights Clinic, the law school took it on. Attorney Gennerman became the student lead on a complex case that incorporated the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and Asylum Law for a young woman who had fled from Sierra Leone following the murder of all her family members. Through this experience in law school, Attorney Gennerman was convinced that her immigration law was her calling.

During her third year of law school, Attorney Gennerman had an opportunity to intern with a deportation defense attorney in Denver. Upon graduating, she returned to Wisconsin, took the bar exam, and within two years of becoming a licensed attorney, opened her own immigration practice.

Being a new practitioner, Attorney Gennerman partnered with what is now the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) in Chicago and honed her legal skills by exchanging pro bono representation with training, support, and mentorship through NIJC. Finding this community was integral to her initial success in the legal field and allowed her to grow and thrive in her private practice. Attorney Gennerman remains closely connected to NIJC and developed long lasting relationships with colleagues. Over the last two decades, she has continued offering pro bono representation for NIJC clients with successful outcomes.

Humanitarian Values

Attorney Gennerman's law practice was built on serving immigrant communities, with a focus on humanitarian relief. She has stepped up for Afghans, Ukrainians, Venezuelan, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Cuban families through humanitarian programs including Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Humanitarian Parole. She works closely with survivors of domestic and sexual abuse crimes to obtain security in the form of U Visas. Her expert legal advice is grounded in decades of service as an immigration attorney in these complex fields.

Attorney Gennerman was in law school on September 11, 2001. At the time, she was alarmed by what she said she perceived was the changing tone towards the Arab and Muslim American community. She reached out to the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) while in Wisconsin on her winter break in 2001. She attended ADC-WI Chapter meetings and offered legal services. By 2003-2004, she was the Vice-Chair of the ADC-WI Chapter. While she only held that role for a few years, she remained an advocate and ally to the community. She would call again upon these relationships fostered decades ago in November of 2023.

Following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, Attorney Gennerman recognized the hardships that Palestinian Americans with loved ones in Gaza would face. In November, Attorney Gennerman utilized her relationships with former ADC colleagues to strategize on how to best provide legal services to these families. Her connections extended to high levels within the U.S. Department of State and the Consulate Affairs Office in Cairo. Within two days her inbox was filled with emails from 14 families seeking help. It was very clear that the workload was complex and the need for advocacy was immense.

Attorney Gennerman called on the Arab American legal community and connected with an attorney in Virginia. Together, they put out a call to action for pro bono attorney volunteers and created Project Immigration Justice for Palestinians (IJP). Since then, Project IJP has recruited over 300 attorneys, paralegals, law school students, law school professors, and interpreters to provide pro bono services to over 200 families seeking safety and reunification with their families in Gaza.

Through Project IJP, Attorney Gennerman has led two national community forums and offers office hours and guidance to Project IJP volunteers working with clients and their families. She has led meetings with government agencies including the Department of Homeland Security/USCIS, CBP, CRCL, Department of State, and the National Security Council of the White House on matters related to the crisis in Gaza. Her work has also been featured in the media and Attorney Gennerman has been nominated for an immigration attorney award in recognition for her advocacy.

Ultimately, Project IJP was a response to a need, and there's no way to know how long this project will last. Looking forward, Attorney Gennerman knows that there will be future communities in need.

Community Immigration Law Center (CILC) and Pines Bach LLP

Attorney Gennerman is a co-founder, board member, and volunteer of the Community Immigration Law Center (CILC) in Madison. Over the last 10 years, this organization has grown and evolved, extending their services outside of Dane County to assist individuals around Wisconsin. CILC holds a law clinic every second and fourth Friday of the month, dependent on certain holidays. Consultations are by appointment only and community volunteers are always needed. When she's not working with her own clients, Attorney Gennerman can still be found at these clinics providing limited scope legal advice to individuals in need and helping to train new volunteers.

In 2020, Attorney Gennerman reached out to Pines Bach, LLP due to what she believed to be their progressive spirit and history of high-quality legal representation. She envisioned her practice as part of the Pines Bach future, and they agreed. Since 2021 she has been a Partner at Pines Bach, LLP where she continues to assist clients with family-based petitions, humanitarian petitions, naturalization applications, removal defense, and provides advice on the immigration consequences of criminal convictions. Attorney Gennerman represents clients before USCIS Field Offices and the EOIR Immigration Courts and Board of Immigration Appeals.

In reflection, she believes her life is all about balance – between her personal life, her Pines Bach clients, and her pro bono work. There are late nights, but Attorney Gennerman has always felt that the outcomes she achieves are worth it.

How Can You Get Involved in Immigration Law?

To those inspired by her journey, Attorney Gennerman extends an invitation to join her efforts. She recognizes that this work is stressful, hard, and not without sadness – but truly rewarding and impactful. Even for attorneys who don't have any immigration experience, there are plenty of ways to help. Attorney Gennerman recommends volunteering with groups like CILC, Open Doors for Refugees, and Centro Hispano. Every action makes a difference. Finally, all organizations can always benefit from donations. Attorney Gennerman believes that anything that assists the immigrant community is a benefit to our whole community. ​