Appointed June 2015 · President Barack Obama→ Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch
11 years on the immigration bench
Appointed under a Democratic administration
Background
The Honorable Immigration Judge Olivia L Cassin earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1983 from Connecticut College and a Juris Doctor in 1988 from Brooklyn Law School. From March 1992 to May 2015, she served as an attorney in the Immigration Law Unit of The Legal Aid Society in New York. Prior to that, she was an associate at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan in New York from 1988 to 1991. Since 2011 she has served on the New York State Bar Association's Committee on Immigration Representation, and she is a member of the District of Columbia and New York State Bars.
Caseload & process (since 2021)
719
Completions per year
4,315 total
1%
Detained at decision
share of cases
27.6 mo
Median time to decision
from case start
11.9%
Ordered removed in absentia
person absent
1.5%
Decisions appealed to BIA
appeal rate
—
Appeals remanded or reversed
only 5 appeals — too few
Grant rates by type of relief
Share granted among merits decisions for each application type, since 2021.
Asylum
87%
586 decisions High confidence
Withholding / CAT
26.3%
152 decisions Moderate
Cancellation — 42B (non-LPR)
89.2%
120 decisions Moderate
Cancellation — 42A (LPR)
100%⚠
2 decisions Too few cases
Adjustment of status (245)
100%
77 decisions Moderate
Voluntary departure
100%⚠
16 decisions Too few cases
87%
of asylum claims granted on the merits High confidence
Based on 586 asylum decisions (grants + denials) since 2021.
This judge
87%
This court
33.3%
National average
31.8%
0%100% granted
In the top 2% of the 825 judges nationally with enough cases to compare.
Does a lawyer matter here?
Asylum grant rate by whether the person had legal representation.
With a lawyerrepresented · 577 decisions since 2021
87%
Without a lawyer⚠unrepresented · 9 decisions since 2021
88.9%
Asylum grant rate over time
Each point is that calendar year's grant rate, back to 2015 where the judge was deciding cases — the longer career view. Dashed grey line = current national average (31.8%). Headline rates above use 2021 – today.
Courts where this judge has decided cases
Hearing locations for cases this judge completed since 2021, by number of decisions.
Many judges hear cases from more than one court (detained facilities, video dockets, or reassignments).