I am an experienced immigration lawyer, legal services director and clinical legal instructor. With a focus on family immigration, removal defense, asylum, appeals, and immigrant domestic violence cases, I also have experience in business immigration matters.  I have represented immigrants and their families from every geographic region of the world, and I speak French and Spanish.
I am admitted to practice in the State of New York, the Eastern District of New York, and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. After graduating from Brooklyn College/CUNY in 1978 I earned my Juris Doctor degree from Brooklyn Law School in 1981.
From 1988-90 I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Chad, and I have lived and traveled in numerous countries of West, Central and East Africa.  From 1996 – 2001 I was Director of Immigration and Refugee Programs for a large social services agency in Trenton, NJ. From 2001 until 2008 I was Director of Legal Services at Nationalities Service Center in Philadelphia. During that time I managed a staff of ten attorneys and paralegals, which together handled over 1000 family immigration, asylum, removal, naturalization and citizenship, immigrant domestic violence and detention cases annually.
I was the Supervising Attorney of the student-run Asylum Law Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania Law School from 2002-2006, and from 2005-2008 I was Clinical Instructor of Temple University Law School’s Immigration Law Clinic.  I served as Executive Director of Nationalities Service Center from 2008-2013. I have served on the Executive Committee of the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition and was involved in the New Jersey Immigration Policy Network. I have made presentations to lawyers, law students and paralegals on immigration law topics at numerous symposiums, conferences and trainings.
Finally, I am Of Counsel to Rupal Parikh Aristimuno, an experienced immigration attorney based in Montclair, NJ, whose expertise is centered on employment-based immigration and I-9 compliance for businesses.
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