Brigit G. Alvarez

Attorney Alvarez graduated from Columbia University in 1998. Upon graduating, she worked for the Legal Aid Society in the Federal Defender Division in Brooklyn, New York. She then worked as a community organizer with Latin American immigrants on police brutality and health & wellness issues.

She enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law in 2001. While a law student, she worked for the following organizations promoting immigrant rights: Centro de Derechos Indígenas Flor y Canto, A.C. (Oaxaca, Mexico); Center for Constitutional Rights (New York, New York); the American Civil Liberties Union (Los Angeles, California); and the HIV & AIDS Legal Services Alliance (Los Angeles).

Upon graduating, she continued working to advance the human rights of immigrants at the Center for Human Rights & Constitutional Law (Los Angeles). She helped secure legal status for Maria Suarez, a human trafficking survivor/activist and recipient of the first human trafficking visa in the United States.

Attorney Alvarez opened her own firm in 2007. She speaks fluent Spanish, and is a regular volunteer for local immigrant rights organizations. Attorney Alvarez is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and a former Board member of the Latina Lawyers PAC. In 2009, she received the Honorable Benjamin Aranda III award from the Los Angeles County Bar Association for Outstanding Public Service. Every year she receives Certificates of Achievement as a Pro Bono Guardian from the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Attorney Alvarez has collaborated with the National Association of Latino Elected Officials and Univision 34 to conduct various “Ya es Hora, ¡Ciudadanía!” segments on Primera Edicion and Noticias 34.

Attorney Alvarez has been a featured speaker at UCLA School of Law, Southwestern Law School, and University of Southern California, and has presented Continuing Legal Education workshops coordinated by the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and spoken at various community organizations devoted to protecting immigrant rights. In addition, Attorney Alvarez served as an Adjunct Professor at the Pepperdine University School of Law with the Asylum & Refugee Law Clinic.

More recently, Attorney Alvarez has been involved in innovative state legislation to advance immigrant rights including SB 873 (securing $3 million in funding for non-profit agencies who work with immigrant unaccompanied minors)(2014); and SB 674 (aiding immigrant victims of crime in obtaining law enforcement certifications)(2015). Both bills were signed into law.

In a victory for immigrants with convictions, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit published Rendon v. Holder, 764 F.3d 1077 (9th Cir. 2014). This win for Attorney Alvarez’s client has been very effective in preserving legal status for immigrants who want to move forward from past mistakes.