She directs an interdisciplinary academic program and teaches courses on contemporary issues in human rights, the rights of aliens and citizens, and human rights in Mexico. Her research interests bridge human rights and migration policy. From 1977 until the mid-1990s, Ms. Gzesh practiced law in Chicago, working at the Legal Assistance Foundation, the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and at two law firms. She represented individual immigrants and refugees, as well as political candidates and religious organizations. In the 1980s, she was legal adviser to national and local religious organizations that participated in the Sanctuary movement. In 1983, Ms. Gzesh won political asylum in the U.S. for Dennis Brutus, a Northwestern University professor and prominent South African anti-apartheid activist. From 1996-2001, she co-directed the Regional Network of Civil Organizations for Migration, an international civil society coalition that advocated for the human rights of migrants with governments of the Regional Conference on Migration. From 1997–1999, she served as legal advisor to the Minister for Migration Affairs of the Embassy of Mexico. Ms. Gzesh was a Fulbright Scholar in Mexico in 1990 and served on the Clinton-Gore Presidential Transition Team in 1992.
Susan Gzesh
of counsel
Susan Gzesh became of counsel to Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, Ltd. in 2010. She focuses on the areas of civil rights, class actions, and labor and employment. Since 2001, Ms. Gzesh has been Senior Lecturer and Executive Director of the Human Rights Program at the University of Chicago.
