Archi Pyati speaks to an audience of students to kick off the third edition of Public Interest Week at Michigan Law.
By Bob Needham
Michigan Law
The practice of public interest law is particularly important to meet current challenges, according to the keynote speaker at Michigan Law’s recent Public Interest Week.
“We are living in a moment when the rule of law is being tested in tangible, deeply personal ways,” said Archi Pyati, CEO of Tahirih Justice Center, a national nonprofit that serves immigrant survivors of gender-based violence. “Core constitutional principles like free speech, due process, equal protection, and access to counsel are increasingly treated as conditional.
“When the rule of law weakens, it does not weaken evenly. It falls hardest on those with the least power, which is why it’s so important that high-quality legal work by the smartest minds across the country is happening now,” Pyati said.
She spoke to an audience of students to kick off the third edition of Public Interest Week, an annual event that provides inspiration and assistance for students interested in pursuing that area of the law.
Other events included a Pro Bono Fair, which showcased opportunities for public-interest student work; a community-wide breakfast; and skills-building and job search workshops geared specifically to public-interest careers. The week concluded with a panel discussion of current lawyers who shared their personal stories and some recent professional wins. Panelists were Taylor Fellows of the Michigan State Appellate Defender Office; Anastassia Kolosova of Disability Rights Michigan; Kylee Sunderlin of If/When/How; and Rebecca Smith, head of the Natural Resources Section at the Michigan Attorney General’s Office.
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The impact of 9/11
Pyati drew parallels between current events and her days as a student in the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001. She had initially chosen Michigan because of its offerings in international human rights law, but events after 9/11 led her to refocus.
“In the aftermath of September 11th—a horrible time of fear, grief, and devastation for all Americans—we saw the human rights of immigrants being trampled,” she said. “Backlash came quickly against people from the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia.
Hate crimes surged against people who look like me.
“Immigrants were forced to register based on their national origin, detained by the thousands, and stripped of their basic procedural protections. I was a 3L when the attacks happened. I had come to law school passionate about starting a career in international human rights, but that year, my vision of human rights work changed completely. I could no longer justify looking abroad when injustice was unfolding, so obviously and so violently, right here at home.”
Through an Equal Justice Works Fellowship, she became an advocate for detained immigrants and refugees from New York and New Jersey.
“I became a bridge between impacted communities and the immigration legal system,” she said. “Being a lawyer had given me power—the power of knowledge, the power of language.”
Pyati spoke to the value of her Michigan Law experiences, such as working with Professor David Santacroce in a clinic; internships, including one with the ACLU where she worked with Michael Steinberg, who is now a professor; summer fellowships abroad in human rights field work; and encouragement from professors, particularly Karima Bennoune, ’94, who served as a mentor.
“Listening to their stories and asking them questions helped me to imagine what was possible,” she said. “At the same time, there were a lot of voices telling me that public-interest law was unrealistic, unsustainable, and impractical … What changed for me was when I stopped asking who was going to invite me to do the work and I started asking, ‘Where am I going to add value?’”
—————
The critical role of public interest lawyers
After a few years at other human-rights organizations, Pyati joined the Tahirih Justice Center in 2014, overseeing public policy and communications. She became CEO in 2021, overseeing a staff of nearly 100, five offices, and an annual budget of more than $10 million.
Pyati told the audience that she has seen a rising fear among Tahirih’s clients over the past year—to the point that they may not call 911 in an emergency, afraid that they might be arrested. “This is why the work that Tahirih and so many other public-interest law organizations are doing right now is on the front lines of the fight for human rights in America today,” she said.
“Lawyers are not merely interpreting the law. They’re restoring access to it. Litigators at numerous organizations are ensuring that due process is not an abstract principle, but a lived reality. Attorneys are challenging unlawful policies and actions, representing survivors in systems stacked against them, rebuilding trust where fear has taken hold.”
Pyati closed her talk with encouragement for students considering a career in public-interest law: “The information you need is right here at Michigan. It’s in the internships and clinics, the summer jobs and conversations with your mentors,” she said.
“Most importantly, it’s in whatever motivated you to come here in the first place—whatever special gifts you bring and you have to offer to the movement for social justice. If you’re doubting yourself, please don’t lose hope, because our collective future is going to be built by you. You don’t have to have perfect clarity every day, not right now. You just need to take the first step.”
Michigan Law
The practice of public interest law is particularly important to meet current challenges, according to the keynote speaker at Michigan Law’s recent Public Interest Week.
“We are living in a moment when the rule of law is being tested in tangible, deeply personal ways,” said Archi Pyati, CEO of Tahirih Justice Center, a national nonprofit that serves immigrant survivors of gender-based violence. “Core constitutional principles like free speech, due process, equal protection, and access to counsel are increasingly treated as conditional.
“When the rule of law weakens, it does not weaken evenly. It falls hardest on those with the least power, which is why it’s so important that high-quality legal work by the smartest minds across the country is happening now,” Pyati said.
She spoke to an audience of students to kick off the third edition of Public Interest Week, an annual event that provides inspiration and assistance for students interested in pursuing that area of the law.
Other events included a Pro Bono Fair, which showcased opportunities for public-interest student work; a community-wide breakfast; and skills-building and job search workshops geared specifically to public-interest careers. The week concluded with a panel discussion of current lawyers who shared their personal stories and some recent professional wins. Panelists were Taylor Fellows of the Michigan State Appellate Defender Office; Anastassia Kolosova of Disability Rights Michigan; Kylee Sunderlin of If/When/How; and Rebecca Smith, head of the Natural Resources Section at the Michigan Attorney General’s Office.
—————
The impact of 9/11
Pyati drew parallels between current events and her days as a student in the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001. She had initially chosen Michigan because of its offerings in international human rights law, but events after 9/11 led her to refocus.
“In the aftermath of September 11th—a horrible time of fear, grief, and devastation for all Americans—we saw the human rights of immigrants being trampled,” she said. “Backlash came quickly against people from the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia.
Hate crimes surged against people who look like me.
“Immigrants were forced to register based on their national origin, detained by the thousands, and stripped of their basic procedural protections. I was a 3L when the attacks happened. I had come to law school passionate about starting a career in international human rights, but that year, my vision of human rights work changed completely. I could no longer justify looking abroad when injustice was unfolding, so obviously and so violently, right here at home.”
Through an Equal Justice Works Fellowship, she became an advocate for detained immigrants and refugees from New York and New Jersey.
“I became a bridge between impacted communities and the immigration legal system,” she said. “Being a lawyer had given me power—the power of knowledge, the power of language.”
Pyati spoke to the value of her Michigan Law experiences, such as working with Professor David Santacroce in a clinic; internships, including one with the ACLU where she worked with Michael Steinberg, who is now a professor; summer fellowships abroad in human rights field work; and encouragement from professors, particularly Karima Bennoune, ’94, who served as a mentor.
“Listening to their stories and asking them questions helped me to imagine what was possible,” she said. “At the same time, there were a lot of voices telling me that public-interest law was unrealistic, unsustainable, and impractical … What changed for me was when I stopped asking who was going to invite me to do the work and I started asking, ‘Where am I going to add value?’”
—————
The critical role of public interest lawyers
After a few years at other human-rights organizations, Pyati joined the Tahirih Justice Center in 2014, overseeing public policy and communications. She became CEO in 2021, overseeing a staff of nearly 100, five offices, and an annual budget of more than $10 million.
Pyati told the audience that she has seen a rising fear among Tahirih’s clients over the past year—to the point that they may not call 911 in an emergency, afraid that they might be arrested. “This is why the work that Tahirih and so many other public-interest law organizations are doing right now is on the front lines of the fight for human rights in America today,” she said.
“Lawyers are not merely interpreting the law. They’re restoring access to it. Litigators at numerous organizations are ensuring that due process is not an abstract principle, but a lived reality. Attorneys are challenging unlawful policies and actions, representing survivors in systems stacked against them, rebuilding trust where fear has taken hold.”
Pyati closed her talk with encouragement for students considering a career in public-interest law: “The information you need is right here at Michigan. It’s in the internships and clinics, the summer jobs and conversations with your mentors,” she said.
“Most importantly, it’s in whatever motivated you to come here in the first place—whatever special gifts you bring and you have to offer to the movement for social justice. If you’re doubting yourself, please don’t lose hope, because our collective future is going to be built by you. You don’t have to have perfect clarity every day, not right now. You just need to take the first step.”
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