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ILCM’s Sara Karki named a 2019 Attorney of the Year by Minnesota Lawyer
Posted on Dec 20 2019
Sara Karki hopes that her 2019 Attorney of the Year award will bring greater awareness of the presence of immigrants in greater Minnesota. “There’s a lot of focus on the metro and people have no idea what’s happening in southern Minnesota,” she said. “I hope that people will know that the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota (ILCM) has an office in Austin and understand that there is work to be done in greater Minnesota.” Of her own work, Sara explained, “It’s not all lawsuits that end up on the front page of the newspaper, we do a lot of work every single day and that counts, too. There are many challenges practicing immigration law right now, and it is nice that the work of our office throughout Minnesota is being highlighted.”
Sara Karki has worked at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota (ILCM) for five years and is currently the staff attorney at ILCM’s Austin office. Sara is the chair of the Austin Human Rights Commission is implementing its strategic welcoming plan. Of her work, she said, “You can’t necessarily change federal policy, but you can make sure that your city is doing everything it can be to be welcoming. It has been really cool to see how Austin, Winona, and St Charles are doing that important work on the local level.”
Always interested in law, Sara got her bachelor’s degree at St. Cloud State University in criminal justice. Her interest in immigration law grew out of contact with international students at St Cloud State, as she met people from all over the world and got to know a little about their immigration journeys.
“I knew I was very interested in immigration, and in law school those were the classes I excelled in and found the most joy in,” Sara said. She had already started volunteering with ILCM prior to beginning law school, and continued to do so as part of a public interest practicum. Though Sara had majored in Spanish, speaking Spanish in a professional context during her volunteer work at ILCM was “eye opening” and prompted her to audit Spanish classes at Hamline while in law school to continue to improve her language skills.
Sara continued to volunteer with legal non-profits until being hired by ILCM to be an attorney in the Worthington, Minnesota office. When the chance to open a new branch of ILCM in Austin, Minnesota arose, she was very excited. Her experience in Worthington was a valuable asset in her ability to open a new office in a new city. “The Austin office has an innovative collaboration of connecting immigrant entrepreneurs with holistic support,” Sara said. “It has been amazing to see the entrepreneurial spirit in action, changing the lives of the participants”