Rutgers-Camden Law Professor Develops Guide for New Jersey Judges Facing Immigration Cases

For Immediate Release

CAMDEN –  Joanne Gottesman’s first job out of law school involved working with young people, many of them immigrants, through the Legal Aid Society of New York.

Now a clinical associate professor at Rutgers School of Law–Camden, Gottesman continues to play a significant role in the lives of immigrants who enter the criminal justice system.

In September, the New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts began directing the state’s judges to consult a practice guide compiled by Gottesman before they advise clients who face possible deportation proceedings.

A directive issued Sept. 4 suggests that judges – and by extension, criminal defense attorneys – turn to her 30-page guide, titled “The Immigration Consequences of Selected New Jersey Criminal Offenses,” to help them determine which crimes are likely to endanger a client’s immigration status in the United States.

“There’s been increasing awareness of this issue in New Jersey, particularly of the need to inform clients what the immigration consequences could be at the time when they enter a plea,” explains Gottesman, who co-directs the Civil Practice Clinic at the Rutgers–Camden law school and whose ongoing research probes the intersection of immigration and criminal law.

First conceived in 2003, revised in 2005 and now undergoing another set of revisions to reflect changes as the law evolves, her practice guide in essence sifts through the New Jersey Criminal Code provision by provision, analyzing how each particular offense would be categorized under federal immigration statues.

The guide originated with a grant from the Defending Immigrants Partnership funded by the Open Society Institute of the George Soros Foundation.

“It was part of a national effort to prepare guides in states with high immigrant populations, such as California and New York – about 10 states in all,” says Gottesman, who noted that the guides are designed primarily as a tool for criminal defense lawyers considering how to advise their clients how to plead.

In July, the state Supreme Court ruled, in State v. Nunez-Valdez, that a defendant who was misinformed about the immigration consequences of a guilty plea in state court may withdraw that plea if he had not been properly advised of the likely outcome. The court directed the Criminal Practice Committee and the Administrative Director to revise the state’s plea form to include language reflecting the finding.

The ruling has yet another Rutgers angle: The justices’ deliberations on the case took place March 9 at the new Archer & Greiner Moot Courtroom at the Rutgers–Camden law school. About 100 students attended the session, only the second time in the last 60 year that the state’s highest court has met outside of Trenton.

The Civil Practice Clinic Gottesman oversees at Rutgers prepares students to represent low-income Camden residents in a wide range of legal matters. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Wesleyan University who received her law degree from Columbia Law School, she also teaches a course in professional responsibility.

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