Mary Tanagho Ross

Mary Tanagho Ross joins Bet Tzedek from Public Counsel, where she was Senior Staff Attorney and recently Interim Directing Attorney in the Immigrants’ Rights Project. There, Mary specialized in state and federal litigation protecting the right of immigrant children to seek Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) and asylum. She serves as class counsel in federal litigation to protect children’s right to seek asylum before the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and has served as lead counsel in litigation protecting the rights of immigrant youth to seek SIJS. Her work has successfully challenged national policies impacting the rights of tens of thousands of young immigrants seeking humanitarian relief.

Mary was previously an associate at Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai LLP, where she litigated civil rights, employment, and international human rights cases brought under the Alien Tort Statute and the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and other cases raising international and constitutional law violations. Mary also taught as an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School and the University of California, Irvine School of Law and presently serves as a consultant to the Sudreau Global Justice Institute.

Mary received her B.A. magna cum laude with Phi Beta Kappa honors from the University of Southern California and her J.D. from UCLA School of Law. Mary served as a law clerk in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada. Mary is the proud daughter of immigrants. She lives in the L.A. area with her husband and three children.