Jojo Annobil

As an immigrant from Ghana, Jojo Annobil experienced the fear of being undocumented in the U.S. His life changed when he was able to obtain lawful status—which he only found possible through the help of a lawyer. Motivated by this experience, Annobil enrolled at Fordham School of Law and went on to become a litigator for 25 years with The Legal Aid Society. In this work, Annobil identified a major gap: few young lawyers can find early-career jobs in immigration law. This has a significant impact, as immigrants with representation are six times more likely to see a successful outcome. 

In 2016, Annobil joined Immigrant Justice Corps (IJC), a fellowship program that trains young lawyers to represent immigrants, as Executive Director. Today he is the CEO, and under his leadership, IJC has placed fellows nationwide, achieved a 93% success rate in completed cases, and helped build a new generation of immigration lawyers. Ninety percent of the young lawyers IJC trains stay in the field. In addition to his work at IJC, Annobil teaches at NYU School of Law’s Immigrant Defense Clinic and serves as Special Counsel to the New York State Supreme Court on immigration issues.