Philip L. Torrey

Philip L. Torrey is the Managing Attorney of the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program (HIRC) and a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School. He also supervises the Crimmigration Clinic at HIRC. The Crimmigration Clinic engages in federal appellate litigation in the U.S. Courts of Appeals, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and state courts of appeal. The Clinic’s litigation efforts have focused on issues concerning “sanctuary” cities, the proper legal standard for determining when a criminal conviction triggers a specific ground of removal, and the crime-based bars to asylum and other forms of humanitarian protection. Torrey’s research focuses on the intersection of criminal law and law and immigration detention, including the immigration system’s mandatory detention regime. His scholarship has been published in law journals, practitioner guides, and online fora such as the Michigan Journal of Law Reform, the Harvard Latinx Law Review, the Immigration and Nationality Law Review, and the Harvard Law and Policy Review. He is also frequently quoted in major media outlets including the Washington Post, Boston Globe, U.S. News and World Report, Al Jazeera, Huffington Post, and National Public Radio. Previously, Torrey worked as an attorney in the Immigration Unit of Greater Boston Legal Services and as a litigation associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.