2016 AILA Annual Conference Faculty Biographies Jason Abrams is a partner with Abrams & Abrams LLP. As a third-generation immigration practitioner, he frequently encounters legacy INS programs, including NACARA, late amnesty, and 245(i). He studies their interplay with modern initiatives. Mr. Abrams focuses his practice on employment-based and family-based petitions. Matt Adams works in Seattle, Washington as the legal director for Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. He defends individuals before immigration courts, the BIA, and the federal courts. Mr. Adams is a member of the National Immigration Project’s Board of Directors and King County Public Defenders Advisory Board. Rocío Castañeda Acosta is a supervising attorney with the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project's Children's Program in Phoenix, Arizona. She has experience representing unaccompanied immigrant minors at her previous positions with the National Immigrant Justice Center and the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project. During law school, she clerked with Maria Baldini-Potermin & Associates, P.C. Houman Afshar is an immigration attorney and partner in the New York City office of the full service law firm of Gibney, Anthony and Flaherty, LLP. He advises both start-up and established U.S. businesses on how to implement and maintain immigration programs in a wide range of industries, including hospitality, media, marketing, fine arts, technology, financial services, and others. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology from the University of British Columbia and his J.D. from New York Law School. Daniel Aharoni has been a prominent immigration counsel to foreign and domestic clients since 1981, following five years’ practice in artists & entertainment law. His clientele include many of the leading entertainment companies as well as artists, actors, composers, and visual artists. His practice focuses on: Extraordinary Ability Visas for Artists, Entertainers, New Media, Technology, Computer, Athletes, Scientists, Business, and Educators. Since 2011, he has served as a member on AILA’s Athletics, Culture, Entertainment, and Science Committee. Robert D. Ahlgren has practiced immigration law and been the principal attorney of his law office since 1973. Previously, he worked for Neighborhood Legal Services and appeared for 23 years on a call-in segment of a public service weekly Spanish language television show. He has been chairman of the Illinois State Bar Association’s Section Council on Immigration and International Law. Mr. Ahlgren, an AILA member since 1973, served for five years on the Board of the Chicago Chapter and on the Board of Governors for nine years thereafter. He is a frequent presenter at AILA conferences and an author of many articles on immigration topics. Genevra Alberti is the sole full-time attorney at The Clinic, which is a nonprofit removal defense organization in Kansas City, Missouri, and is currently the only nonprofit west of St. Louis providing representation to those facing removal proceedings in the Kansas City Immigration Court. Ms. Alberti’s practice focuses solely on representing indigent noncitizens – many of them detained – in removal proceedings. Before the clinic opened in January 2012, Ms. Alberti practiced removal defense at Sharma-Crawford Attorneys at Law. She received her B.A. from the University of North Carolina, and her J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis. Sioban Albiol, J.D., directs the Asylum and Immigration Law Clinic (Clinic) at DePaul College of Law where she trains and supervises law students who represent asylum-seekers. In the Clinic, she also provides technical assistance to immigrant-serving community-based organizations. Previously, Ms. Albiol served in various capacities at the organization now known as the National Immigrant Justice Center. Ms. Albiol chaired the Chicago Bar Association Immigration and Nationality Law Committee and served on the Executive Board of AILA’s Chicago Chapter. Shanni Alexandrovitz is a senior associate at Liam Schwartz & Associates, based in Israel. She helps lead the firm’s U.S. corporate immigration practice, with sub-specialties in visas relating to extraordinary ability employees, family issues, AILA Doc. No. 16051671. (Posted 06/06/16) investors and artists and entertainers. She is admitted to practice law in both Israel and New York, and is an active member of AILA, having served on numerous Chapter and National Committees, as well as the Israeli Bar Association. She holds an LL.B. from the Israel College of Management. Olsa Alikaj-Cano, a senior attorney and board certified in immigration and nationality law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, joined the litigation team of Foster LLP, in its Houston office in 2010. She is a graduate of the University of Houston Law Center, where she was fortunate to practice as an immigration clinic student attorney under the direction of the late Professor and immigration judge, Joseph Vail. She is an active member of AILA, and currently serves as AILA’s Texas Chapter New Members Division liaison. She focuses primarily on cases involving federal litigation as well as cases with removal and deportation issues before the Executive Office of Immigration Review. She has been admitted to practice by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Texas State Bar, U.S. District Court Southern District of Texas, and the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She is a member of the Texas State Bar’s Pro-Bono College and is proud of her pro-bono work with the Tahirih Justice Center and other non-profit organizations involved in helping immigrants. She was selected to Rising Stars 2016 for immigration by the Super Lawyers magazine, and she currently is a council member of the Houston Area Council on Human Trafficking, invited by Houston’s Mayor to join the Mayor’s Human Trafficking Task Force. Mariela Amezola is the owner of the Amezola Legal Group, APC. She was born in Santa Ana, California and was raised by migrant working parents. She devotes her practice to complex immigration cases focusing in deportation defense, federal appeals, immigrant and non-immigrant visas, and asylum cases. She travels all throughout California and the country representing clients in various immigration courts. She manages two offices and four satellite offices, including one in Tijuana, BC, Mexico. Ms. Amezola currently serves as the chair of the ICE-ERO Liaison Committee for the San Diego Chapter and has been an AILA member since 2009. Maria E. Andrade is the principal of Andrade Legal, a six attorney firm with offices in Boise, Idaho and Ontario, Oregon specializing in criminal-immigration law, federal litigation, and family-based immigration. Ms. Andrade frequently advises criminal defense attorneys on immigration consequences of criminal convictions and lectures on a variety of immigration matters to local and national audiences. She was awarded the 2015 Nevin Professionalism Award by the Idaho Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and her firm received the 6.1 Challenge Award from the Idaho State Bar for the pro bono work at "family" detention centers. Ms. Andrade serves on the Board of Directors of the National Immigration Project, the Federal Defender Services of Idaho, and on the advisory committee of AIC's Legal Action Center and AILA's Federal Litigation Section. Ms. Andrade obtained her J.D. from the University of Notre Dame and B.A. from Loyola Marymount University. Jojo Annobil is the attorney in charge of The Legal Aid Society’s city-wide Immigration Law Unit. He is a regular presenter at various fora for judges, immigration and criminal defense attorneys, and advocates. He is currently an adjunct clinical professor at New York University School of Law where he co-teaches the Immigrant Defense Clinic. He also serves as special counsel to the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division First Department's disciplinary committee on immigration matters and is the co-chair of the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Immigration Representation. Jorgelina E. Araneda is a partner with Araneda & Stroud Immigration Law Group in Raleigh, North Carolina. She has more than 23 years of immigration law experience and is a Board certified specialist in immigration law. Ms. Araneda's litigation experience includes immigration court, BIA, federal district court and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. She serves as the Carolinas Chapter American Immigration Council ambassador and has served as a mentor to new immigration attorneys. Ms. Araneda has been recognized by her peers in Super Lawyers and Top Attorneys in North Carolina. She graduated from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Law and obtained her LL.M. at George Washington University. Matthew J. Archambeault has a wide range of experience in the field of immigration and nationality law, appearing in immigration courts around the United States and its territories. He has represented individuals from every continent in AILA Doc. No. 16051671. (Posted 06/06/16) every context possible. Mr. Archambeault has argued cases in federal court, at both the district and appellate levels and has been successful. He brings a wealth of knowledge with both an aggressive and compassionate approach to legal representation, as well as an ability to advocate against the government, while reaching a consensus with them. Ashley Arcidiacono is an associate attorney at the immigration law firm Hurwitz Holt, APLC in San Diego, California, where she represents clients in removal proceedings and before United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Her primary focus is assisting vulnerable populations, including undocumented crime victims to navigate the U visa petitioning process, from initial certification through adjustment of status to lawful permanent residency. Ms. Arcidiacono also participates as a guest speaker on the topic of immigration options for domestic violence survivors during South Bay Community Services’ (a San Diego-based, social services organization) annual three day domestic violence training held for law enforcement personnel, social workers, and other domestic violence advocates and first-responders.