Alla Karagodin Holmes is the Program Manager, Learning and Development for Orientation Programs at Acacia. Alla ensures the provision of high-quality legal services to participants in federally funded orientation programs by developing technical assistance resources, trainings, and overall learning strategy.

Before joining Acacia in 2022, Alla served as the Program Manager for the Immigration Court Helpdesk and the Family Group Legal Orientation Program at the Vera Institute of Justice where she provided technical assistance to orientation program sites nationwide through site visits, trainings, and conference calls. Prior to her roles at the Vera Institute, Alla worked with the ABA’s Children’s Immigration Law Academy, training legal staff and volunteers at emergency reception centers. At Kids in Need of Defense, Alla trained and mentored pro bono attorneys on children’s immigration matters. Alla drafted European asylum laws as a Bates Fellow at the UNHCR in Hungary and spent three years as an intellectual property litigation associate at Sidley Austin LLP.

Alla holds a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and a B.A. in psychology and international studies from Northwestern University. Alla emigrated from Russia as a refugee in 1990 and speaks fluent Russian and Spanish.