About Me

Allison McCarthy is a Des Moines native. Allison was admitted to the practice of law in May of 2010. In addition to her private law practice, Allison is currently a faculty member at Drake University Law School, teaching immigration law and serving as a supervising attorney in the Drake Refugee Clinic.

Previously, Allison has worked as a judicial law clerk for the Iowa Supreme Court, and a public defender in the Louisville, Kentucky area.

Allison is a May 2007 graduate of the University of Iowa with a B.A. With Distinction in International Studies. During her undergraduate years, she participated in the A. Craig Baird Debate Forum as a policy debater, and she studied abroad at the Universiteit van Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Allison is also a December 2009 graduate of the University of Iowa College of Law. Allison’s interests in immigration law and criminal law began during law school, when Allison participated in the school’s VAWA project, helping immigrant victims of domestic violence apply for immigration benefits, and the Skylark Project, in which she helped prepare a successful application for commutation of sentence for a domestic-violence victim serving a life sentence for a first-degree kidnapping conviction. At the University of Iowa College of Law, Allison also worked with the Journal of Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems.

Allison is an active member of the Iowa State Bar Association and the Polk County Women Attorneys.


Publications

  • Se Adoptó la Ley que Prohíbe “Ciudades Santuarias” en Iowa, Heraldo Hispano, 2018

  • Cuatro casos de inmigración en el Tribunal Supremo de los Estados Unidos, Heraldo Hispano, 2018

  • 2014 Changes to the Iowa Court Rules, Iowa Lawyer, Jan/Feb 2015

  • The May 12, 2008 Postville, Iowa Immigration Raid: A Human Rights Perspective, 19 Transnat’l L. Contemp. Probs. 293, Winter 2010