This summer, Rachel Kabat L’25 worked with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, the UN Refugee Agency, in its Multi-Country Office in Washington, D.C.
Rachel Kabat L’25 is a rising 3L from Atlanta, Georgia who aims to continue her work at international organizations with refugees, stateless individuals, and other vulnerable populations following graduation.
This summer, with the support of the Toll Public Interest Fellows Program, I had the privilege of interning at United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Refugee Agency, in its Multi-Country Office in Washington, D.C. Covering both the United States and the Northern Caribbean, this UNHCR office works jointly with those forced to flee, government agencies, NGOs, attorneys, and other partners to protect and promote the rights and safety of refugees, asylum seekers, and stateless individuals across the region.
As a Legal and Individual Casework intern in the Protections and Solutions Unit, I had the opportunity to engage in diverse and meaningful work with colleagues whom I truly admire. While the legal work is enjoyable, it is the individual casework that I found the most fulfilling. Every day spent working on cases brings new challenges with few easy answers, from statelessness to resettlement, detention to asylum. I have provided information on asylum laws, policies, and procedures to individuals in need, engaged in advocacy on statelessness issues in the United States, worked closely with NGOs, legal aid lawyers, and pro bono firm attorneys on individual cases, and communicated with UNHCR offices around the world. It has been a busy but rewarding summer.
Though this internship involved many new experiences and encounters, my time at Penn left me feeling well-prepared. Classes such as “Refugee Law” with Fernando Chang-Muy, Thomas O’Boyle Adjunct Professor of Law; “Immigration Law” with Ingrid Eagly, past Visiting Professor of Law, and “International Human Rights Law” with Bill Burke-White, Professor of Law, and Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, Perry House Professor of Practice of Law and Human Rights, helped me build a strong foundation in international human rights and humanitarian law, as well as a well-rounded understanding of U.S. asylum law.
Hands-on opportunities—particularly pro bono work with the International Refugee Assistance Project and the Penn Law Immigrant Rights Project—honed the practical skills I needed to turn knowledge into action, while international experiences such as the Waseda Transnational Program and the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition allowed me to build experience in interacting and collaborating with diverse colleagues worldwide. Additionally, extensive time spent on legal research, editing, and writing through seminars and my time on the University of Pennsylvania Law Review has been instrumental in transforming my skills and experiences into genuine work products. I am confident that I have made it to where I am today in large part because of my time at Penn, for which I am grateful.
In so many ways, this internship has been a dream come true. Entering law school, it was a goal of mine to one day work for UNHCR after graduation. In fact, it was what drove me to pursue law in the first place. To do so while still in school—and with Penn’s full support—has been an incredible opportunity.
While working with UNHCR can be sobering at times, with the knowledge of the crises the agency is tackling and the tens of millions of individuals who depend upon it weighing heavily, it is also eye-opening and deeply fulfilling. Every day, I take pride in the work I have done and the hope that it has helped at least one person in their quest for safety and security.
Guided by my colleagues and supervisors, I hope to carry the lessons I have learned during my time at the office—knowledge and experience, yes, but also compassion, humility, ingenuity, tenacity, and so much more—with me long after I graduate. If this is the start to my future, I feel I have found the right path.
Pathways to the Profession highlights Penn Carey Law students and post-graduate fellows as they launch impactful legal careers. From summer internships in the private sector to public interest post-graduate fellowships and externships, these firsthand accounts of substantive legal work demonstrate the myriad opportunities available to Penn Carey Law students and graduates.
Read more Penn Carey Law students’ Pathways to the Profession.