BRIEFS
2013 PRO BONO AWARDS RECIPIENT
Vanessa Stine was volunteering for the
nonprofit Friends of Farmworkers one
summer between law school semesters
when she noticed a disturbing trend.
Many of her clients—low-wage immigrant
farmworkers in need of legal aid for
employment-related issues—had also been
swindled by people claiming to be lawyers.
The problem is often referred to as
notario fraud, after the type of legal
professional from Spanish-speaking
countries, “notarios,” that scam artists
impersonate. Scammers exploit illegal
immigrants looking to legalize or adjust
their residency status in the U.S., telling
victims relief exists where none does.
Illegal immigrants are prime targets
because they are less likely to report to
law enforcement that they’ve been victims
of fraud.
“They’re scared,” says Stine, a third-
year Villanova University School of Law
student. “They don’t know how to report
these crimes. There are language barriers,
cultural barriers, mistrust. … Some people
are coming from countries where the police
have persecuted them.”
When she couldn’t find any local
organizations specifically aimed at
fighting notario fraud, Stine took matters
into her own hands. She founded the
Notario Fraud Project in fall 2012 with two
main goals: documenting immigration
fraud schemes and helping victims fight
back against fraud. The project now has
about 10 volunteers, and to date has
interviewed 24 immigrants who believe
they’ve been defrauded; educated more
than 400 immigrants on their rights
VILLANOVA LAW STUDENT VANESSA STINE ASSISTS IMMIGRANTS WHO’VE BEEN VICTIMS OF NOTARIO FRAUD
BY ROSS PFUND
PRO BONO VS. CONS
through workshops; and helped connect
18 individuals with local immigration
nonprofits who can assist them.
“There are many ways in which
immigrants are exploited in this country,
unfortunately. Every time that happens,
they lose faith in our system,” Stine says.
“What’s valuable about the project is that
it’s about trying to get to the root of these
schemes to prevent them and help victims
stand up against unfairness.”
After identifying a possible victim,
Notario Fraud Project volunteers conduct
an interview using a questionnaire
Stine developed to help document each
person’s story.
In one case, a con artist told two
immigrants that he could get them green
cards for $10,000 apiece. The paperwork
was never filed. In another case, an
immigrant looking for tax help was talked
into paying thousands of dollars to apply
for a permanent residency that he wasn’t
actually eligible for.
The final two interview questions are
always, “What would you ideally like to see
happen?” and “What’s your goal?”
When the answer is, “I want to get my
money back,” the project tries to find
clients legal help through organizations
like Villanova Law School’s Farmworker
Legal Aid Clinic. While it’s a good start,
Stine still sees a gap in legal assistance
for victims.
“Part of why this gap in services has
persisted is because it falls between the
cracks of traditional service delivery,”
she says. “Immigration legal service
providers do not have the expertise to
bring civil claims, and local consumer
law nonprofits lack the necessary
knowledge in immigration law to
understand the schemes.”
Stine is determined to close that gap.
“I’m trying to apply for funding to help do
some of the representation at a nonprofit
after I graduate,” she says. “I don’t think it’s
an impossible task. I think that we can find
legal support to do training with pro bono
attorneys and legal services organizations
to build up a network of folks who could
handle cases.”
Professor Beth Lyon, director of the
Farmworker Legal Aid Clinic, has kept
an eye on Stine’s efforts. “In many years
of working with public interest and pro
bono-oriented students at Villanova Law, I
have not met Vanessa Stine’s equal. She is
quick to grasp the root causes of social and
institutional problems and address them
with creativity, integrity and persistence,”
Lyon says. “What she has achieved in less
than three years of law school would make
highly seasoned activists proud.”
