Clark Hill Combines with the Law Offices of Carl Shusterman in Los Angeles - A Leading National Immigration Law Boutique
Five Lawyers Join Clark Hill Immigration Law Practice, With Team of Five Paralegals and One Specialist
Clark Hill today announced that the firm has combined with Los Angeles immigration law boutique, Law Offices of Carl Shusterman, well known in California and nationwide for the firm’s leading immigration law practice. Founded by Carl Shusterman, the eleven-member group includes five lawyers and a team of paralegals and support staff; all will work from Clark Hill’s downtown Los Angeles office. Shusterman has joined as Senior Counsel, Angeline Chen and Cheryl Gertler have joined as Senior Attorneys, and Jennifer Cohn Rozdzielski and Lorraine Tong have joined as Associates.
“The immigration needs of our corporate and individual clients have become increasingly complex over the past several years,” said Michael Nowlan, co-leader of Clark Hill’s Immigration Law Practice. “Combining forces with Carl and his stellar team of immigration lawyers and staff will add capabilities and experience that will help to address a growing need for immigration legal services nationwide, particularly in industries, including health care, technology, financial services, and academia.”
“I’ve worked with veteran immigration attorney, Tom Ragland, who has handled numerous cases for our clients in federal court proceedings,” said Shusterman. “When the time was right to combine with a larger firm, Clark Hill was at the top of my list. While the immediate appeal was to have direct access to top immigration litigators like Tom, the firm also offers the full range of services for our clients which is a huge attraction. We were really impressed by the culture and the collegiality at Clark Hill and we know that our clients and our own team will be well taken care of.”
About the Shusterman Team
Carl Shusterman founded Shusterman Law Offices more than thirty-five years ago, after serving as a Trial Attorney for U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) from 1976 until 1982. A nationally acknowledged leader of the Immigration Law Bar, Shusterman has testified as an expert witness before the Senate Immigration Subcommittee in Washington, D.C., is one of a limited number of attorneys who have been designated as Certified Specialists in Immigration and Naturalization Law by the California State Bar, and has a served as a member of the Immigration and Nationality Law Advisory Commission for the California State Bar. He is a former Chairman of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), Southern California Chapter, served as a member of AILA’s National Board of Governors from 1988- 1997, and has chaired numerous AILA Committees and spoken at dozens of AILA Conferences. An active member of the immigration law pro bono community, Shusterman and his team have volunteered in numerous capacities, most recently assisting women and children incarcerated in Dilley, Texas after fleeing from violence in Central America.
Among numerous accolades, Shusterman has been acknowledged as a leading lawyer by The International Who’s Who of Corporate Immigration Lawyers, Chamber’s USA Guide for Leading Business Lawyers in Immigration Law, Best Lawyers in America, and SuperLawyers, which featured him in a February 2018 article. He has also been named as one of the top 15 corporate immigration attorneys in the U.S. by Human Resource Executive magazine.
Angeline Chen represents employers, employees, investors, students, and individuals in family-based immigration matters, and represents victims of certain crimes (U visa) and victims of domestic violence (VAWA). She works with businesses and employees in obtaining temporary work visas (H-1B, O, E-2, L-1, TN) and permanent residence for individuals such as professionals (EB-2, EB-3), executives (EB-1), investors (EB-5), entertainers, registered nurses, and individuals with extraordinary ability, including those in the sciences, arts, education, business, and athletic fields. Chen also assists permanent residents in becoming U.S. Citizens, including application preparation and representation at the interview with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
Prior to joining Clark Hill, Chen worked with the Shusterman group for over four years. Prior to that, she was a solo practitioner for 11 years in San Marino and Pasadena, CA. She has been interviewed on CNN, CTV, radio shows and featured in an article in Today.com for her pro bono work at the border as the co-founder of Rise to Reunite. Chen is also the President of the Board of Directors of YWCA Pasadena and a Board member of El Rio Community School. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), and the Los Angeles County Bar Association (LACBA).
She earned a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and received a Certificate of Study from the School of Business and Public Policy at Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania School of Business. Chen graduated cum laude from the University of California, Irvine, where she earned a B.A. in Sociology, with a minor in Philosophy and Criminology, Law and Society.
Cheryl Gertler has been representing individuals and U.S. and foreign companies in employment-based and related business immigration law for over 30 years, including with regard to H-1B specialty occupation, L-1 intracompany transferee, and E treaty trader and investor cases. She also represents clients in permanent workers, adjustment of status, and consular practice matters. She has represented hundreds of clients in matters before the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Department of Labor, and U.S. consulates and embassies throughout the world.
Gertler earned a J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law and a B.A. from the University of California Los Angeles. Following law school, Gertler attended the Postgraduate European Law Program with the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in Salzburg, Austria and served as a legal intern with the Swedish law firm of Olsson & Lidgard (now Advokatfirman Vinge). She spent several years living in Tokyo working with a Japanese law firm.
Jennifer Cohn Rozdzielski specializes in immigration deportation defense, family immigration and Federal litigation, and has represented thousands of clients in various Immigration court proceedings. She has successfully litigated applications for cancellation of removal, adjustment of status, Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) waivers and asylum. Additionally, Rozdzielski has obtained bond and immigration benefits for numerous detained clients, and also represents clients before the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in diverse matters, including family-based petitions, unlawful presence waivers, and naturalization.
She earned a J.D. from the Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles, where she was awarded the Cali Excellence for the Future Award in Constitutional Law, and earned a B.A. from Arizona State University magna cum laude in Political Science. Following law school, Rozdzielski served as an extern with the Office of the Chief Counsel, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in Phoenix, Arizona.
Lorraine Tong handles a diverse clientele of individuals and companies that require H-1B and L-1A visas, as well as Employer Sponsored Green Card PERM applications, and has successfully represented numerous individuals in their Applications for Adjustment of Status and Naturalization before the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Before joining the Shusterman group, Tong was an attorney for over 20 years in the area of employment-based immigration in the office of Howard Hom, who is now an Immigration Judge in New York. For more than seven years, Tong served as a consultant to a foreign consular office, advising diplomats on matters pertaining to U.S. law, American politics and culture, and English language usage. Tong is an active member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
She received her B.A. in History and French at California State University, Fullerton and interned at the CSUF College Legal Clinic. She completed her J.D. studies at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, followed by an externship for U.S. District Judge James M. Ideman.
Paralegals and Support Staff
Maria Devia Valles, Elsa Garcia, Ana Molina, Randy Rangel, and Hui Zhang have joined Clark Hill as Paralegals, and Pablito Villaber has joined as a Billing Specialist, all in the Immigration Law Practice Group.
About Clark Hill
Clark Hill is an international law firm with multidisciplinary practices that draw on its attorneys’ industry and policy knowledge, deeply held shared values, and global network of premier firms and advisors to provide innovative legal solutions and client service excellence worldwide.
As one of the largest law firms in the United States with more than 650 attorneys and professionals in 23 offices across the nation, as well as offices in Dublin and Mexico City, Clark Hill is everywhere its clients require high quality legal representation. Please visit the firm’s website at http://www.clarkhill.com or follow the firm on Twitter @ClarkHillLaw.