Elizabeth Balck-Monsma

Elizabeth (Liz) is a graduate of Cooley Law School and St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana.  Liz spent two years in St. Paul, Minnesota as an Americorps volunteer, co-directing an after-school program for immigrant children and interning with the Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights. During law school, Liz externed at the Immigrant and Refugee Appellate Center, a boutique law firm in Northern Virginia. After graduating in 2007, Liz practiced civil litigation at a Troy, Michigan law firm, while volunteering as a pro bono attorney at the Immigration Law Clinic at the University of Detroit Mercy Law School. In 2009, Liz returned to her native Grand Rapids to become the Staff Attorney, and later the Legal Services Director at Justice for Our Neighbors West Michigan. Liz is a passionate legal advocate for refugees and immigrants and an attorney at Monsma Law Office, a private immigration law practice she founded in 2016.

Places she’s felt welcomed: Cuba, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Canada.