About Jaclyn
Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer built a career that moves between courtrooms and classrooms. She earned a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 2013 after completing a B.A. in Spanish and Writing at Ithaca College in 2008. Her academic background in languages and law has shaped the practical and pedagogical threads of her work.
Her first post-law school role was as a Lawyer Advisor at the U.S. Department of Justice in 2013. That position placed her inside federal operations early in her career and exposed her to immigration-related practice at a national level. In 2015 she joined La Raza Centro Legal as an Equal Justice Works Fellow on immigration matters, a role that involved direct client representation and community-based advocacy. She moved into legal education soon after, teaching as an adjunct at UC Berkeley in 2016 before taking on a faculty role at Cornell Law School. By 2017 she was listed as an Associate Clinical Professor of Law at Cornell, where she combined supervision of student practitioners with curriculum work.
Her path reflects sustained engagement in immigration law, combined with an interest in how law is taught and learned. She has been a member of the California State Bar since 2013, and her professional affiliations include the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Legal Writing Institute. She also holds membership in the Finger Lakes Women’s Bar Association, linking her to regional professional networks near Ithaca, where she completed her undergraduate studies.
Colleagues describe her work in the clinic setting as practical and student-centered. She has overseen clinic matters that require both courtroom readiness and careful client communication. Her background in writing and Spanish has been an asset in drafting filings and working with clients who speak Spanish. The move from federal advisor to nonprofit fellow and then to clinical professor shows a steady widening of responsibilities. She shifted from advising within an agency to representing individuals and supervising emerging lawyers.
She continues to teach and supervise law students while engaging in immigration casework and community legal projects. Her classroom assignments and clinic supervision have kept her involved in the day-to-day practice of immigration law while allowing her to shape new lawyers’ skills. Her current work centers on immigration law and clinical legal education.
