Breaking the Ice: Teaching ‘next generation of racial justice lawyers’

Liliana Zaragoza sees her role as teaching “the next generation of racial justice lawyers” as director of the Racial Justice Law Clinic at the University of Minnesota Law School.

Zaragoza, associate clinical professor of law, helped launch the clinic last fall after working as an assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), where she worked on cases that went to the U.S. Supreme Court.

After five demanding years and many 17-hour days at LDF, George Floyd’s murder and subsequent unrest and the 2020 election, Zaragoza was ready for a change of pace.

The clinic enables her to continue her commitment to racial justice and civil rights advocacy. But the clinic, working with community groups to choose cases, is more selective than LDF, which “addressed all emergencies everywhere.”

“The next generation is going to be able to pull those long nights and keep that pipeline of people who do this work coming,” Zaragoza said.

Name: Liliana Zaragoza

Title: Associate clinical professor of law, director, Racial Justice Law Clinic, University of Minnesota Law School

Education: A.B., international studies and human rights, University of Chicago; J.D. Columbia Law School

Q: Best way to start a conversation with you?

A: Tell me about yourself and I’ll be happy to tell you about my dog, cat, three chickens, the whole menagerie, and toddler.

Q: Why law school?

A: In college, I worked in a couple of immigrants rights organizations and then a Latinx coalition of organizations called Alianza Americas, in Chicago. People were being in community with one another, but you don’t necessarily see the fruits of your labor in organizing. You might have a 25-year goal, a five-year goal or a goal that you may never see in your lifetime. Another internship in college, doing Spanish language interpreting for U visas, specific immigration cases, was the first time that I was in a room with lawyers who could get a visa for somebody. It was the first time that law felt like it was a little bit faster. It was my impatience at the time and the fact that I saw that you could help people with the law. Seeing something so tangible really inspired me to go to law school.

Q: What are you reading?

A: “The World We Make,” by N. K Jemisin, the sequel to “The City We Became.” It sounds aspirational but it’s actually fantasy.

Q: Pet peeve?

A: Arrogance. It’s perfectly fine to be proud of one’s accomplishments but that’s something that unfortunately, a lot of lawyers can give in to.

Q: Best part of your work?

A: Being in community, with people and with students.

Q: Most challenging?

A: Staying hopeful. Doing civil rights work or racial justice work can be very hard. You might think courts are never going to give your clients relief or that it’s a Sisyphean battle. But you have to keep trying.

Q: Favorite activity away from work?

A: I love being outside. I love playing with the menagerie and my kid. I love really bad reality TV.

Q: Where would you take someone visiting your hometown?

A: My hometown is Tucson, Arizona, which I love very much. It’s an hour from the U.S.-Mexico border. They would have to go to Sabino Canyon. It’s a beautiful hike. It’s paved, so it’s accessible and it has a tram. You have to get outdoors but you also have to eat. One place is El Güero Canelo for real carne asada tacos and a caramelo, which is not a candy despite the name.

Q: Legal figure you most admire?

A: Derecka Purnell, author of “Becoming Abolitionists.” She’s from St. Louis and was there after Mike Brown was killed and Ferguson started the Black Lives Matter movement. I don’t think she would see herself as a legal figure though she has a law degree. I admire the way in which she connects her own life experience and has been in community with an organization called the Dream Defenders.

Q: Favorite book, movie or TV show about lawyers?

A: “How to Get Away with Murder,” starring Viola Davis. It’s campy and definitely an over-the-top lawyer TV show.