Erin B. Corcoran

Areas of expertise: U.S. immigration law and policy; refugee and asylum law; protection of vulnerable migrant populations; and human trafficking

Erin B. Corcoran serves as the Executive Director at the Kroc Institute of International Peace Studies, is a faculty member at the Keough School of Global Affairs and a faculty fellow at both the Klau Institute for Civil and Human Rights and the Pulte Institute for Global Development at the University of Notre Dame. She holds a JD from Georgetown University Law Center and a BA in Philosophy and Religious Studies from Montana State University.

With expertise in U.S. immigration law and policy; refugee and asylum law; and human trafficking, Corcoran’s teaching at Notre Dame focuses on complex legal topics at the national and local level. She teaches courses on forced migration and refugees; diversity dialogues; peace studies; and has mentored global affairs students in their senior capstone projects. She has also taught courses on the administrative process, international human rights law, and the fundamentals of lawyering.

Prior to her work at Notre Dame, Corcoran held various positions that relate to her passion for immigration reform and the law. She served as a resettlement consultant for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Lusaka, Zambia; a staff attorney for Human Rights First in Washington, DC; and legal counselor to former Senator Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland. She also served as a professional staff member of the United States Senate Appropriations Committee where she strategized on creating access to legal services, combating employment discrimination and advancing juvenile delinquency and prevention programs.

Her administrative acumen has been instrumental in her leadership roles, including as the inaugural executive director for the Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership and Public Policy and several years as the director of the Social Justice Institute, both at the University of New Hampshire. In these roles, she inspired and equipped law students to embark on government or public service careers that would address unmet legal needs for underserved and vulnerable populations.

Corcoran has been tapped for interviews with Rolling Stone, Newsweek, LiveNow/Fox and local NPR affiliate, WVPE Radio, where she has offered commentary on immigration policy and the debate over national border control. She recently contributed a legal analysis to the book, Feminist Judgments: Immigration Law Opinions Rewritten, published by Cambridge University Press in 2023.