Keynote Address: Malou Chávez '10

Executive Director of Northwest Immigrant Rights Project

Malou Chávez, a 2010 graduate of Seattle University School of Law, is the first immigrant woman of color to serve as executive director of Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP). NWIRP is a nationally-recognized legal services organization dedicated solely to advancing and defending the rights of immigrants with low or no income. 

Chávez spent five years as NWIRP’s first deputy director, during which she helped the nonprofit to expand and “bloom.” Her 15-year history with NWIRP began with a PILF grant in 2008, which allowed her to spend a summer interning with NWIRP’s Violence Against Women Act Unit in Seattle. There, she helped domestic violence survivors gain legal residency in the U.S. This experience led to her being named NWIRP’s 2010 Immigrant Justice Fellow, and her work in NWIRP’s Moses Lake and Wenatchee offices focused on representing survivors of violence in Eastern Washington obtain immigration protections. In 2014, Chavez supervised NWIRP’s Family Services Unit in Seattle, where she directly represented people in family-based visa petitions and in deportation defense. Chavez has supervised numerous Seattle U Law student interns at NWIRP, including other PILF summer grant recipients. Her own experience immigrating to the U.S. drives her passion and enables her to empathize with the challenges immigrants face when fighting for their rights and building new lives in the U.S.

Chávez earned her B.A. in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles, before receiving her J.D. from Seattle U Law. As a law student, she served terms as the Student Bar Association (SBA) president and as SBA diversity representative. In 2014, she was honored with the Latinx Law Student Association’s La Justicia Award.

In her extensive volunteer work, Chávez has been a board member of One Equal Heart, Real Change News, and the Latina/o Bar Association of Washington, as well as a member of the Washington Immigrant Solidarity Network’s Steering Committee. She is a recipient of the Washington State Bar Association’s Norm Maleng Leadership Award and the Latina/o Bar Association of Washington President’s Award.