Vera Institute of Justice

Liz Kenney is the associate director for the Advancing Universal Representation initiative, overseeing the initiative’s Safety and Fairness for Everyone (SAFE) Network. SAFE is a unique collaboration of government leaders, legal service providers, and community-based advocates all working in partnership with Vera to stand up and grow publicly funded, universal representation programs at the state and local levels. She joined Vera in 2016 to work on the Unaccompanied Children Program, a national initiative that increases access to legal services and information for unaccompanied children.

Before joining Vera, Liz served as a staff attorney in the Office of Pro Se Litigation for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, where she worked to increase access to the court system for unrepresented and marginalized litigants, including prisoners asserting civil rights violations and prisoners and immigrant detainees challenging their unlawful detention. Throughout her career, Liz has worked in various capacities representing immigrants in their immigration cases. Liz graduated from the City University of New York School of Law, where she was a Haywood Burns Fellow in Civil and Human Rights and participated in the Immigrant and Refugee Rights Clinic. She holds a BA from Hobart and William Smith Colleges.