Professor Roberts is a human rights attorney with 25 years
experience in cases involving refugees, women, and survivors of
torture. She teaches Human Rights and International Law at the
University of San Francisco, and Refugee and Asylum Law and Policy
at Golden Gate University School of Law. Shawn previously served as
Associate Director/Senior Staff Attorney at UC Hastings'
Center for Gender and Refugee Studies (CGRS), and as a Staff
Attorney with Bay Area Legal Aid, where she established Domestic
Violence Restraining Order Clinics and Immigrants' Rights
Workshops, and was named BayLegal's Regional Coordinator
for Immigration & Domestic Violence. While in that position,
she trained Bay Area police, prosecutors and court officials about
the U Visa and other immigration remedies, and she drafted the U
Visa policies now in place at the San Francisco Police Department.
She also helped establish the Center for Justice &
Accountability (CJA) in San Francisco, serving as their first Legal
Director. In addition to teaching, Roberts is a practicing attorney
and consultant.
