When Georgia State University College of Law student Lauren Waits (J.D. ‘29) and her husband became empty nesters in 2023, they could have started planning vacations or picked up new hobbies they never had time to pursue.
Instead, they chose a life of service, spending their weekends as volunteer coordinators for a nonprofit organization called El Refugio. The couple can be found in a small "hospitality house" in Lumpkin, Ga., where they host families who travel long distances to visit loved ones detained at Stewart Detention Center.
El Refugio, provides meals, lodging and emotional support to families upended by separation. The organization helps them navigate the difficult circumstances of immigration detention.
“The children are mostly U.S. citizens,” she said. “They miss their parents desperately and can’t understand why this is happening.”
Family has always been an important factor in Waits’ life, and her career has been shaped by intentional choices to prioritize her family. Growing up, her family emphasized social justice and civic responsibility, and she gravitated early to public service, aspiring to change the world. Over the years, Waits’s career was shaped by intentional choices to prioritize her family. She took full and part-time roles when needed and even stepped away from a beloved job so the whole family could spend a year in Mexico for language immersion.
Today, she has decades of experience behind her, from developing public policy at Voices for Georgia’s Children and the Atlanta Community Food Bank to representing her community with the Housing Authority of Fulton County.
Over time, her personal connections to El Refugio deepened into a conviction that hospitality alone couldn’t fulfill, but she discovered offering legal advocacy could bring greater purpose to her work.
She began working with the organization’s co-founder Kathrine Beno-Valencia (J.D. ’24) and learned about Beno-Valencia's law school experience and her success in Georgia State Law’s Immigration Clinic.
“My time in the clinic has shaped who I am and my practice today,” said Beno-Valencia. “I shared with [Waits] my experience as a non-traditional student, and why I felt that Georgia State Law was a good fit for me.”
Lauren Waits (J.D. '29) attended new student orientation in fall 2025, taking the first step on the path to becoming an attorney.
At 57, Waits is now another one of the college's many nontraditional students pursuing a second act after a long career. For her, the opportunity to work on immigration cases under attorney supervision in the state’s only in-house Immigration Clinic, without waiting to take the Bar Exam made law school a practical choice, and it filled a significant need in the community.
“Georgia does not have enough immigration attorneys,” she explained. “Even if everyone who needed representation could afford it, we couldn't supply enough lawyers to meet the demand.”
But Waits’s connection to Georgia State Law began long before her enrollment. During her professional career, she collaborated with members of the faculty, served as a guest lecturer and supervised legal interns in her professional work. She was drawn to the college’s reputation for attracting students who are, in her words, “highly independent and whip smart.”
Now, she finds herself among them in the classroom, pursuing a degree that will one day allow her to stand beside immigrant families in court.
“[Lauren]’s experience listening and engaging in deep conversation with families will serve her well as a lawyer,” said Beno-Valencia. “Lauren's ability to pivot to new situations while volunteering at the hospitality house is an invaluable skill she will use as a law student and a lawyer.”
Lauren Waits (J.D. '29) breaks ground with her colleagues on the Housing Authority of Fulton County (HAFC) for the Anthem Senior Living Community.
Her ongoing legal education has become especially relevant to her work in local governance, a role that has sharpened her understanding of how law functions in practice. She currently serves on the board of the Housing Authority of Fulton County (HAFC), stewarding public resources for the benefit of local taxpayers. Waits was appointed to the HAFC and elected as its vice chair in July 2024, and she is now serving alongside one of her local heroes, former City Council President Felicia Moore.
“Our lawyers have had to negotiate with former employees, restore board compliance with bylaws and procedures, and seek legislative amendments to our charter,” she said. “It’s like law school in a nutshell.”
The experience reinforces a lesson reflected in her coursework: even the most basic legal concepts can have significant, real-world impact for our communities.
After 25 years in nonprofit leadership roles, Waits’ ultimate goal isn’t prestige, or even career advancement, it’s making a difference for people that she can personally facilitate. Her vision of success is simple but powerful: seeing a family reunited after a parent’s release from detention.
“All I really want to do next is to be a small, sturdy cog,” she said. “…Helping a few immigrants get their best chance at enjoying the benefits of citizenship that we enjoy.”