Keiana James

Before law school, Keiana graduated cum laude from Amherst College with a BA in political science and French and a certificate in international relations. She studied abroad in Paris and wrote a French thesis examining borders and belonging in literary texts. After graduation, she worked for four years as a paralegal at a firm specializing in plaintiff-side pharmaceutical antitrust class actions.

At NYU Law, Keiana focused on her interests in public defense, immigration, and criminal law. Through the Immigrant Rights Clinic, she co-wrote a successful Second Circuit appeal for a lawful permanent resident facing deportation. Her team received the Clinical Legal Education Association’s Outstanding Clinic Team Award. She also joined many student groups, including the Coalition on Law and Representation Leadership Collective (CoLR), the Black Law Student Association (BLSA), the Rose Sheinberg Lecture Program Committee, the Ending the Prison Industrial Complex (EPIC), and the Women of Color Collective. On the Root-Tilden-Kern selections committee, Keiana read scholarship applications and interviewed candidates. She also served as Admissions Committee Lead for the BLSA, leading outreach to prospective students and advising admitted students as they decided where to matriculate. 

Keiana worked at Legal Aid Society in the Criminal Appeals Bureau during her 1L summer, supporting indigent clients through the criminal appellate process. She also worked as a research assistant for Acting Assistant Professor Rachael Liebert, and received research credit for her publication “Trauma and Blameworthiness in the Criminal Legal System.” During her 2L summer, Keiana interned at Bronx Defenders in the immigration practice for the legal department, which functions as the federal team in the practice. She finished her 3L year as a Pro Bono Scholar, a program that allowed her to take the bar exam before graduation and complete her final semester in law school working at Brooklyn Defender Services, where she started working as an immigration staff attorney at on the New York Immigrant Family Unity Project team (“NYIFUP”). NYIFUP attorneys provide pro bono representation to detained immigrants from NYC.

Keiana hopes to continue supporting students as they carve their own path through the legal field. She was grateful to work closely with trusted friends during her own application process. 

A fun fact about Keiana is that she is passionate about the arts. She paints, draws, practices film and digital photography, and trains in ballet, modern, jazz, and hip-hop in her free time. She is also proficient in English, Spanish, and French.