Veronica Barba is a founding Partner at Lucas & Barba, LLP in Los Angeles, where she represents clients with a wide range of removal defenses in detained and non-detained settings. Ms. Barba is a graduate of the University of Arizona, School of Law & the University of California Los Angeles. She is a first-generation Latina whose parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico. She formerly served as the Director of the ABA Immigration Justice Project (IJP) in San Diego. Ms. Barba was with the IJP since its inception in 2008, first serving as the Legal Orientation Program Attorney. She also previously worked for the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Los Angeles, California. She has been a speaker at various conferences and trainings for the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), the Vera Institute of Justice, the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office, as well as other community groups and school venues. She is a recognized national expert on the representation of immigrants with mental health disabilities and is a Qualified Representative for our clients who are members of the Franco-Gonzalez class. She has been honored as one of the Best Young Attorneys by the San Diego Daily Transcript and is a member of the Southern California AILA Chapter. She serves on AILA National Committees and is a Board Member of the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild.