NAPABA Partners with Indiana Legal Services to Serve Indiana’s LGBTQ+ & Immigrant Communities

For Immediate Release:
July 31, 2023

NAPABA Partners with Indiana Legal Services, Inc., to Serve Indiana’s LGBTQ+ and Immigrant Communities

WASHINGTON / INDIANAPOLIS - The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (“NAPABA”) and Indiana Legal Services, Inc., (“ILS”) are proud to announce a partnership to deliver direct legal support to LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities in Indiana. The partnership will fund law student interns at ILS starting this fall for the 2023-2024 academic year. The legal internships will be housed within the ILS LGBTQ+ Project and Immigrants’ and Language Rights Center.  

The ILS LGBTQ+ Project is a statewide legal assistance program providing legal advocacy and representation to LGBTQ+ people in Indiana designed to address the disproportionate rates of poverty and violence in the LGBTQ+ community. The Project includes, among other items, representation to those seeking name and gender marker changes in Indiana courts and advocacy to protect LGBTQ+ students’ rights. The ILS Immigrants’ and Language Rights Center provides direct legal representation on immigration matters and language access cases to Indiana residents. The Center handles a variety of matters, such as family reunification petitions, visa applications for victims of domestic violence, green card and naturalization applications, and language discrimination cases.

Legal interns under this program will handle a wide range of assignments and will have direct client contact, attend court and administrative proceedings, and strategize with ILS attorneys – all in serving the LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities in Indiana.  

This partnership represents NAPABA’s ongoing commitment to meaningfully engage with stakeholders in Indiana and serve the needs of those affected by recent state discriminatory legislation, including through direct legal services, as outlined in NAPABA’s Advocacy Action Plan. 

Financial support for these legal internships is generously provided by the NAPABA Law Foundation’s Underserved Communities Fellowship, which is designed to increase legal services and advance equal justice for underserved AANHPI communities, especially in areas where such populations lack sufficient resources due to geographic isolation. For more information about the application process for interested law students, please visit here.

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The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), represents the interests of over 60,000 Asian Pacific American (APA) legal professionals and nearly 90 national, state, and local APA bar associations. NAPABA is a leader in addressing civil rights issues confronting Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities. Through its national network, NAPABA provides a strong voice for increased diversity of the federal and state judiciaries, advocates for equal opportunity in the workplace, works to eliminate hate crimes and anti-immigrant sentiment, and promotes the professional development of people of all backgrounds 

Indiana Legal Services, Inc. (ILS) is a statewide, not-for profit law firm that provides free legal services to eligible clients in civil cases through 8 branch offices. ILS is funded by the Legal Services Corporation, Indiana Civil Legal Aid Fund, United Ways, Area Agencies on Aging, and approximately 60 other funding