Monica S. Devens holds a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from Brown University and a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages from UCLA. As the child of immigrants from Germany and Austria, she has always been interested in immigrant affairs. In 2004, after years of life in academia, she began attending the Saint Louis University School of Law. During law school, she won the Feminist Jurisprudence Essay Competition for her paper entitled “Wartime Sex Crimes as ‘War Crimes’ and ‘Crimes Against Humanity’: A Developing International Understanding.” She also worked part-time at an immigration firm. She finished her legal education at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. Volunteering at the California Asylum Representation Clinic in Berkeley was the high point of her student experience.