Jayesh Rathod
Jayesh Rathod is an associate dean for experiential education, a professor of law, and director of the Immigrant Justice Clinic at American University Washington College of Law. His areas of expertise and scholarly interests include immigration law, labor and employment law, and clinical legal education. As associate dean, Rathod oversees the law school’s clinical, externship, and trial advocacy programs, and fosters the development of new experiential offerings. Dr. Rathod has been recognized for his innovative teaching, including the use of technology and the promotion of bilingual education within US law schools. His body of scholarship includes empirical, applied and theoretical work, and covers topics relating to immigration law, labor and employment law, and legal pedagogy. Dr. Rathod’s research appears in a variety of prominent journals, including the Arizona Law Review, Houston Law Review, Michigan Journal of Law Reform, and UC Irvine Law Review. In 2018, he received the Pauline Ruyle Moore Award for outstanding scholarship in the area of public law.
Dr. Rathod has worked on cutting-edge cases and projects relating to immigration detention, removal defense (including criminal-immigration intersections), humanitarian relief, immigrant workers’ rights, language access, and more. He has been invited to speak on immigration and workplace law topics at institutions across the United States and has served as a commentator in local, national, and international media (including CNN, NBC News, and National Public Radio). In 2016, he was a Fulbright Scholar at two universities in Brazil, where he taught courses on US immigration law and comparative migration policy, and conducted research relating to the Brazilian immigration system. He is fluent in Spanish and proficient in Portuguese. Throughout his career, he has worked with numerous nongovernmental organizations to advance the civil and human rights of communities in the United States and abroad. He currently serves on the board of directors of Ayuda, a nonprofit organization based in the Washington, DC, area.
