Frances Nguyen is a recent law graduate of Lewis & Clark Law School based in Portland, Oregon. In 2011, she traveled to Vietnam and Cambodia to study international criminal law. While in Phnom Penh, she visited the Killing Fields and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). Her experience there inspired her to research and write about forced marriage. Last year, she spent a semester working at the Office of the Co-Prosecutors at the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials (UNAKRT) in Cambodia. At UNAKRT, she worked with Prosecutors to ensure sex and gender-based crimes such as rape and forced marriage were thoroughly investigated and included alongside other crimes against humanity.

At Lewis & Clark, Frances became active in immigration law and civil rights. She volunteered at the Oregon Justice Resource Center by helping refugees fill out their paperwork to become naturalized US citizens. She worked as a law clerk at the Asian American Legal Defense Education Fund (AALDEF) in New York City by helping former labor trafficking victims to apply for a T-Visa. Before coming to law school, Frances worked as a consular aide at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, which serves as a de facto consulate for Taiwan. She holds an MA in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations and Comparative Politics from Georgia State University (2009) and a BA in International Relations from Agnes Scott College (2005).

Frances’ introductory post today discusses the issue of consent in arranged and forced marriage.  Heartfelt welcome!