Sections
Immigration
Upcoming Events
New events are added regularly. Visit the ACBA calendar for more upcoming ACBA events. To view past programming on demand, please visit acbanet.prolearn.io/home.
About the Section
The ACBA’s Immigration Section puts on quality MCLE and keeps us up-to-date on current landscape of immigration laws in the US.
To join the section, please contact our Membership Department at (510) 302-2200 or hadassah@acbanet.org.
We are actively seeking Executive Committee members to help lead the Immigration Section. Executive Committees are responsible for planning the section networking events, MCLE programs, and other activities throughout the year.
To view past programming on demand, please visit https://acbanet.prolearn.io/catalog
Section Listserv
Did you know you can create and send posts to your section community directly from your email inbox? With our Groupvine platform, you can communicate with your section about new updates in your practice area, questions about your practice, changes in laws, discussion about past MCLE programs, and more! Learn more
Kas Shealy
Bean & Lloyd, LLP
110 11th Street
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 433-1900
www.beancard.com/attorney/karyn-a-shealy
kshealy@beanlloyd.com
Kas Shealy is an associate attorney at Bean + Lloyd, LLP in Oakland. She currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Immigration Section of the Alameda County Bar Association, and is a member of the Northern California chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Kas devotes her practice to asylum, removal defense, family unification, and protections for victims of crimes.
Bonita Gutierrez
Open Immigration Legal Services
436 14th Street
Oakland, CA , 94612
www.openimm.org
bonita@openimm.org
Bonita Gutierrez manages a one-woman nonprofit law office in downtown Oakland. She handles asylum claims, removal defense, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status petitions, T and U visas, as well as family petitions. She practices in family law courts, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Immigration Court system. In her past life, she handled commercial litigation, administrative law, and class action suits in New York City. She’s a member of the California and New York Bars.
Damian Caravez
dcaravez@beanlloyd.com
Maighna Jain
Bay Area Legal Aid
1735 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94612-2107
(510) 250-5258
mjain@baylegal.org
Maighna currently works as a Regional Managing Attorney for Bay Area Legal Aid's Youth Justice Team. Prior to law school, she worked as a case manager for juvenile justice-involved youth in San Francisco. After graduation from law school, she represented domestic violence and trafficking survivors in DV/family law and housing matters and has spent most of her career representing youth in education, dependency, dual status, guardianship, family law, immigration, and domestic violence matters. She previously worked at the Family Law Facilitator’s Office, and as a certified mediator for Consortium for Children and the Bar Association of San Francisco, mediating adoption, guardianship, education, and housing cases.
She is an active member of the Alameda County Bar Association, where she serves as the chair of the Wellness Executive Committee and as secretary for the Immigration Executive Committee. In her spare time (and prior to the pandemic), Maighna enjoyed teaching yoga and meditation to youth in juvenile hall and in schools. In addition, she continues to advocate for the use of restorative justice and alternative dispute practices for youth in school discipline and juvenile justice systems.
Judah Lakin
Lakin & Wille LLP
1939 Harrison Street, Suite 420, Oakland, CA, 94612
(510) 379-9216
www.lakinwille.com
judah@lakinwille.com
Judah’s practice focuses on removal defense, appeals, federal court litigation, detention issues, family-based immigration, and the immigration consequences of criminal convictions. Judah is also a lecturer at U.C. Berkeley School of Law, where he supervises law students representing noncitizens before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals through Berkeley Law’s Ninth Circuit Practicum. Prior to starting Lakin & Wille LLP, Judah was an associate at Van Der Hout LLP. Prior to private practice, Judah clerked for the Honorable Richard A. Paez on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and before that, worked at Dolores Street Community Services’ Deportation Defense and Legal Advocacy Program. In addition to his work as an immigration attorney, in 2018, Judah co-founded and now co-directs the Bay Area Immigration Bond Fund.
Leila Sayed-Taha
leila.nhlaw@gmail.com