Lauren (she/her) is an Associate Program Director for the Unaccompanied Children Program’s (UCP) Attorney Recruitment Project. UCP is a national initiative to increase access to legal information and representation for unaccompanied children facing removal from the United States. Lauren originally served as a Program Manager for UCP at the Vera Institute of Justice. Prior to joining Vera, Lauren worked with two Los Angeles-based nonprofits providing removal defense to children and adults in immigration proceedings, before transitioning to adjudicating asylum claims with the USCIS Los Angeles Asylum Office. Lauren holds a bachelor’s in Spanish and global studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a JD from Georgetown University Law Center. She is admitted to the California bar. In her free time, Lauren enjoys hiking, traveling, reading science fiction, and trying new foods.