A. Shaikh Email & Phone Number

I am a creative thinker with a diverse background in legal services, literary editing, and non-profit programming. Currently as a paralegal at Legal Services of South Central Michigan, I primarily coordinate our Medical Legal Partnership with Michigan Medicine and manage my own public benefits caseload with attorney supervision. I am passionate about advocating for vulnerable populations who face undue burdens from our administrative systems, especially clients who identify as disabled, immigrants, and/or low-income. Previously I worked as an immigration paralegal at the Michigan Immigrants Rights Center on the Afghan Arrivals project, where I helped recently evacuated Afghan families access immigration services. I hope to attend law school in the future with a focus on immigration and/or public interest practice areas. In addition to my work in the legal field, I am an experienced editor and published writer. I received my MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) at the University of Michigan Helen Zell Writers' Program, where I was a Zell Fellow and Assistant Editor at the Michigan Quarterly Review. My poetry has been published in the Asian American Writer's Workshop: The Margins, The Boiler, Sundog Lit, and elsewhere. Previously, I received my B.A in English from Kenyon College, where I worked for the Kenyon Review and founded Sunset Press, the college's first and only student-run publishing press.