Jennifer Koh
Biography
Professor Jennifer Koh’s research focuses on the convergence of the immigration enforcement and criminal legal systems; the legal frameworks governing deportation, particularly streamlined procedures taking place outside the immigration courts; and the federal courts’ treatment of immigration claims. Her scholarship has appeared in journals such as the Yale Law Journal, Washington University Law Review, Southern California Law Review, Stanford Law Review Online, Duke Law Journal Online, North Carolina Law Review, Florida Law Review, and Wisconsin Law Review. Various federal courts—including the United States Supreme Court—have cited Professor Koh’s scholarship. She has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, Law360, Orange County Register and various other media outlets and podcasts.
Professor Koh teaches Immigration Law, Criminal Law, Evidence and Ethical Lawyering at Pepperdine. She has also taught doctrinal courses in Administrative Law and the Legal Profession, and directed clinical programs and supervised students in a wide range of immigration matters. Prior to joining the Pepperdine faculty, she held visiting faculty positions at UC Irvine School of Law and the University of Washington School of Law. She began her teaching career as a clinical teaching fellow and lecturer at Stanford Law School.
Professor Koh serves as the Co-Director of the Nootbaar Institute on Law, Religion and Ethics at Caruso School of Law. She has written about the intersection of immigration and Christianity, and has spoken on immigration and social justice to numerous faith-based audiences across the country. For the past decade, she has been active at NewSong Church in Santa Ana, CA, where she serves as a member of the Board of Directors.
Much of Professor Koh’s career has been devoted to serving immigrant communities and advancing social justice amongst underserved populations. She is a founding Board member of the nonprofit organization the Orange County Justice Fund, and past member of the Board of Directors for the Public Law Center. Professor Koh is a recipient of the Orange County Hispanic Bar Association’s Attorney of the Year Award and the Ethnic Studies Award from Chapman University’s Attallah College of Educational Studies. She is also a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the Seong Gwang Educational Foundation, which is affiliated with Seong Gwang Boys’ Middle and High School in Daegu, Korea.
Professor Koh received her J.D. from Columbia Law School and her B.A. from Yale University. Earlier in her career, she clerked for the Honorable Eugene H. Nickerson of the Eastern District of New York, directed a community lawyering project aimed at serving Asian immigrant survivors of domestic abuse at Sanctuary for Families’ Center for Battered Women’s Legal Services in New York City, and a litigation associate in the New York and Palo Alto offices of the law firm WilmerHale.
Education
- Columbia Law School (JD '01)
- B.A., Yale University (1998)
Areas of Expertise
- Immigration Law
- Immigration Consequences of Crime
- Criminal Law
- Evidence
- Christianity and Social Justice
Courses
- Criminal Law
- Evidence
- Immigration Law