Leopoldo Z. is a Mexican national who fractured his leg when he fell out of a tree picking apples. He required three surgeries and now suffers from a chronic pain disorder. Because of his current status as a migrant unauthorized to work in the United States, he has been forced to settle his workers' compensation claim for $35,000. Were he a U.S. citizen, he would have been entitled to benefits of approximately $100,000.

Leopoldo Z. is among the six to eleven million undocumented workers currently in the U.S. Many work for businesses that gladly hire them as low-paid employees in some of the most undesirable jobs, but shun responsibility when times turn tough. These workers live and work in a limbo where seeking justice from the U.S. legal system can leave them empty-handed, and possibly deported.

At Penn Law, a new clinic is helping clients in these murky predicaments and educating students in areas of law that are becoming increasingly important to every practicing attorney. Transnational legal cases intersect through some of the most challenging aspects of law and present unique complexities found at the crossroads of U.S. and international laws.