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Christine Marie Stouffer

Immigration Attorney at Berkeley, CA

4.8   17 reviews
  • Licensed for 18 years
    State CA
    Acquired 2005
    Status
    Active No misconduct found

We have not found any instances of professional misconduct for this lawyer.

About Christine

Learn Christine’s areas of practice.

1
Practice area
  1. Immigration
    100%
    Citizenship, deportation defense, family-based, political asylum, marriage, consular processing, appeals, and mandamus.

Christine is the owner and principal attorney of Stouffer Law in Berkeley, California and has been practicing exclusively immigration law since 2006. She is a certified specialist in Immigration and Nationality Law with the California State Bar. She previously worked as Interim Staff Attorney for Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco with their Pro Bono Asylum Program, and as Staff Attorney for Arab American Legal Services, part of the San Francisco Immigrant and Legal Education Network.

A variety of experiences over the years led Christine to immigration law. She has traveled extensively and lived in Morocco and France. Her mother and her husband are both immigrants to the United States. Based on her personal experiences, she has a deep appreciation for the challenges faced by individuals and families living in a new country. What is already challenging is only made more difficult when, as in many cases, life in a new country brings separation from loved ones. It means a lot to her to work in a field that allows her to help clients navigate the complicated immigration laws so they can focus on moving forward with their lives and reuniting with their families. Christine feels truly honored by the chance to get to know people from all over the world, learn their unique histories, and help translate the law in such a way that allows her clients to make the most informed decisions about their immigration matter. Once the appropriate path is identified, she enjoys working as a team with clients to present the strongest case possible to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service or the Immigration Court.

Christine is fluent in French, and conversant in Arabic and Spanish.

Contact Christine

Similar lawyers nearby

Law Office of Christine M Stouffer
2000 Hearst Avenue, Suite 401
Berkeley, CA, 94709

Reviews

4.8 / 5.0
  17 customer reviews
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Posted by Sam | April 17, 2017
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Asylam case for my nephew from Baghdad, Iraq was approved on the first interview
Working with Christine and her office staff was one of the best experiences my family and I ever encountered in many fronts. Professional confident and pleasant to work with. A great listener, with hi level of intelligence and most importantly her inter personal skills to understand and help her clients to achieve their goals and ultimately win their cases. Christine compiled all necessary information, which included evidence, real life experiences, compared current and past conditions/situations and many other variables. All information were ready at the time of the first interview, then passed! Her style is highly efficient, productive and worth every Dollar spent. Christine is extremely intuitive with all aspects of life. She worked very closely and diligently with her client/s, to unveil the innermost thoughts and feelings of the individual. Only to help overcome apprehension and prompt them to speaking out and share information to help succeed with the case. All to the benefit of her clients. She really helps her clients feel comfortable secure and confident. She makes it clear from the start that her first and foremost objective is her client's needs. Her compassion and coaching skills contribute a great deal to her success in each case. Her reputation and talents in her realm is well known and respected - A testament to her success. She lived in developing countries and speaks multiple languages, so she completely understand the culture and able to communicate freely. In short, my family and I were so happy and grateful for her and our friend who recommended her to us. We would use her services and recommend her to others over and again
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Posted by Ananda | March 23, 2017
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Canada to U.S. Immigration
We hired Christine Stouffer to assist in acquiring permanent residence status for myself and my daughter. Thanks to Christine and her staff, this daunting process went as smoothly as possible, and has resulted in two happy green card holders. All documents were filed correctly, and Christine attended and successfully advocated for us at the interview with USCIS. Christine is courteous, efficient and extremely knowledgable. In addition, I think Christine goes above and beyond in communicating with her clients; every email and phone call was answered promptly and in detail, even after our cases were completed. I highly recommend Christine Stouffer!
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Posted by Mik | March 22, 2017
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Professional, Competent and Empathetic
I used the services of Christine as both a recommendation from my husband and other friends to navigate the immigration process for my self. As any one who has had to navigate the USCIS to petition for a change of status and application for a green card, it's not only complicated but an emotional roller coaster. Christine was thoughtful and explained every thing in detail along the way and provided clear information about what I had to provide. She completed and submitted all applications correctly and on time. My petition was successful and I'm now a proud permanent resident of the US. Would I recommend Christine's Law services to others.. Absolutely Yes. and I have and will continue to do so. I can't thank Christine enough for making such a stressful process as easy as possible.
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Posted by anonymous | March 8, 2017
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Great lawyer
Excellent lawyer that helped to resolve a difficult case in a timely and professional manner. I would recommend.
Posted by anonymous | March 8, 2017
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Great family immigration lawyer!
Christine was very caring and made us feel comfortable with the whole immigration process. I would highly recommend her!
Posted by Zawaya | March 8, 2017
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Christine Stouffer
Zawaya has been hiring Christine for all our visa requirements for over 8 years. She is very thorough, full of empathy super responsible, very human in her approach not like greedy lawyers out there.
Posted by Samuel | March 5, 2017
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Great onest team.
Hired Christine Stouffer to advise us in our case to request spouse under hardship basis. This law office did what was promised and beyond. Our case was approved! We highly recommended her services.
Posted by Rana | March 3, 2017
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Passionate, Competent, and Caring
I have been extremely grateful to work with Christine for the last couple of years. Christine is honest, forthcoming, and very easy to work with. She has made my application process smooth and effortless thanks to her diligence and her effective communication. Christine displays a high level of integrity in her relationship with her clients and in the manner by which he conducts her work. Her level of investment and genuine care for her clients is remarkable and unique. Christine's competence, passion, thorough knowledge, and importantly, her true desire to help her clients make her a wonderful lawyer and individual, and I would highly recommend her to anyone in need of immigration services!
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Posted by anonymous | March 2, 2017
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Can't Forget
Although i was granted my asylum in 2014, but i cant forget all the hard work and the support that Christine showed me during the process. Thank you Christine. Because of what you did, i have a better life now and my family are safe. Thank you
Posted by Ayman | March 2, 2017
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Exceeds Expectation
I have used Christine's consultations on many immigration related cases, and I hired her for my marriage's case. Christine always goes above and beyond her knowledge of immigration laws and rules, I won't hesitate in hiring her again and again when needed.
Posted by anonymous | March 1, 2017
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
YF
She was very helpful and patient with me.
Posted by Aly | March 1, 2017
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Amazing Immigration Lawyer
I used Stouffer Law Office to assist me with my wife's new immigration Visa. Christine was extremely helpful in providing specific details on what the process was like. In addition, she answered all our questions. She was very accessible via email as well. She exceeded all our expectations and my wife got her Green Card 1 year after we started the process.
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Posted by Mouwafac | July 23, 2015
Highly Recommended
Ms. Christine Marie Stouffer is passionate, compassionate and competent. Her knowledge and detailed work is very transparent in the type of questions she asks and how she communicate thoroughly with her client.
Posted by Lashauna | October 24, 2013
Fantastic!
Christine has renewed my faith in the immigration system and the legal system. I was referred to her by a former client of hers. She took care of my husbands residency case and made the process easier than I ever thought it could be. She was very responsive, honest, and knowledgeable. What I expected to be a long and painful process, turned out to be as much of a breeze as navigating our immigration system could be. We are eternally grateful to Christine for taking such great care of us and our case.
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Posted by Brian | October 3, 2013
THANK YOU CHRISTINE!
Christine helped me through a very difficult and stressful time going through the complex immigration process with my wife. I could not have done it without her professional help and guidance. She put my mind at ease and I would highly recommend her for any immigration services. Christine is the best there is!
Posted by Ahmed | October 2, 2013
Best Immigration Lawyer Ever
I had a Complicated Immigration Case .But working with Christine made this case Smooth and Easy . Christine is a professional Immigration lawyer , She is honest and know what she is doing . I Recommend hiring her and I'm confident she will not let her client down.
Posted by Ms Taufiq | February 24, 2017
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Not recommended
I hired Miss Stouffer in February 2016 to file an asylum and it was a big mistake of mine to choose her. After few meetings, she wrote down notes related to my case, and then she informed me she needs around four to six weeks to file my asylum case to the immigration. I paid the initial payment and we agreed that I should pay a monthly payment which I was paying on time. I waited her more than six weeks to submit my asylum case but it took her more than this period to submit the application to the immigration. I was sending her reminders regarding the status of my case, then finally at end of March, after many reminder emails, she filed the I-589 form along with my IDs to the immigration without attaching my declaration!. I sent her emails to know when is she going to submit the declaration, she was finding excuses and writing back by saying she knows her job and she knows the good time to submit my declaration. In fact she didn’t want to submit my declaration because she wanted to receive her full fees (which was not what we’ve agreed and signed). When I came to know that she is not going to file my declaration only before I receive my interview date, I made consultations with many top rated attorneys, they all confirmed that it is much better to submit full case to the immigration however; it’s allowed to submit the declaration before two weeks of the interview date. I’ve been told that may be she doesn’t want to submit my declaration because she has concern that I am not going to continue paying the monthly payment. After sending several emails to her insisting that I want her to finalize my declaration because she didn’t mention in the beginning she is not going to file it only before I receive the interview notice, finally she sent me the below email. I am going to copy and paste her email between two brackets herewith: (If you would like to continue working with me, I would gladly schedule a meeting with you to work on your declaration in the next couple of weeks and put your case on the short notice list at the asylum office once you pay the balance owed in full. The balance is currently $2250.00. I had not offered to put your case on the short notice list before since based on my recent experience, you will more likely be scheduled quickly because of your Iraqi citizenship rather than the short notice list. The short notice list currently contains many names. As I've mentioned on several occasions, it is my job to manage the steps of your case. I take this responsibility seriously in your case as I do with all of my clients. Here is the link to make the payment as you did last time: Lastly, in scanning through my emails, I've noticed around 50 emails back and forth with you during a relatively short period of time. This is far beyond what I planned for when I set the flat rate fee I charged for your case. Out of fairness to me, my staff and my other clients, I can only agree to continue responding to future frequent correspondence from you at the same rate if I bill you for my time in increments of 10 minutes based on my hourly rate of $300.00 per hour. ) I called the State of Bar of California to explain my issue, I’ve been informed that I need to find another attorney for my asylum case and file complaint against her. Within few days, I hired other att who accepted to continue my asylum case, and worked very hard to finalize it. He filed my declaration; he also attended to my interview. I was granted the asylum approval and I am on the way to apply for my Green Card.
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Response from Christine Stouffer February 28, 2017
I’m sorry you didn’t have a positive experience with my office. My goal as a professional is to work with each client to understand his or her unique circumstances, and then to help present the strongest immigration case under the law. While it’s always my intent to offer the best possible support to each of my clients, I understand I may not be the right fit for everyone. I take feedback to heart, and though it’s always more pleasant to hear positive feedback, any type of feedback is an opportunity for growth and improvement. I'm pleased you found an attorney who was a good fit for you. Most importantly, I’m glad to hear your case was approved.
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Contact for Details

Resume

AVVO RATING 9.7 (Superb)

Work Experience

  • Principal
  • Law Office of Christine M. Stouffer
  • 2006 - Present
  • Part-time Staff Attorney
  • Arab American Legal Services
  • 2007 - 2009

Education

  • Golden Gate Univ SOL
  • JD - Juris Doctor
  • 2005
  • Univ of Washington
  • BA - Bachelor of Arts
  • N/A

Associations

  • Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights
  • Asylum Mentor Attorney
  • 2006 - Present
  • National Lawyers Guild, National Immigration Project
  • Member
  • 2006 - Present
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association (California chapter)
  • Member
  • 2005 - Present
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association (Northern California Chapter)
  • EOIR (Immigration Court) Co-liaison
  • 2014 - 2017
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association (Northern California chapter)
  • Pro Bono Co-coordinator
  • 2013 - 2014
  • National Lawyers Guild (San Francisco chapter)
  • Co-chair, Immigration Committee
  • 2008 - 2011
View all associations

Languages Spoken

  • French
  • Arabic
  • Spanish

Honors and Awards

  • Super Lawyer
  • California Super Laywers
  • 2020
  • Super Lawyer
  • California Super Lawyers
  • 2019
  • Rising Star
  • California Super Lawyers
  • 2015
  • Rising Star
  • California Super Lawyers
  • 2014
  • Rising Star
  • California Super Lawyers
  • 2013
  • Rising Star
  • California Super Lawyers
  • 2012
  • Rising Star Award
  • Minority Bar Association
  • 2009
View all awards

Publications

Speaking Engagements

Attorney endorsements

Received (1)
Given (2)
Endorse Christine
Immigration Attorney | Oct 13
Relationship: Worked together on matter
"I wholeheartedly endorse immigration lawyer Christine Stouffer. After knowing, and collaborating with her for nearly a decade, I can state without hesitation that she is compassionate, thorough, and fights for her clients. Based on firsthand knowledge, I can attest to the quality of her work and her ability. She goes above and beyond for all of her clients, and makes significant contributions to the community by regularly volunteering in multiple capacities."

Avvo Contributions

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Berkeley Immigration Lawyer Christine Marie Stouffer
Christine Marie Stouffer
Immigration Attorney
Berkeley, CA
Licensed for 18 years