Her Story
About Tatiana
I came to immigration law as my second career after teaching for 20 years. I practiced for just under 30 years, focusing on deportation defense, humanitarian applications, asylum cases, and family law within the immigration context. What mattered most to me was working with people who had little education and were often seen as not mattering. I was able to give them a voice, and I won a higher percentage of cases than was the average for the court I was practicing in. Some of my most notable achievements include helping a young woman who was being abused and was a victim of a crime get status, and my very last case was an asylum application for a Ukrainian that was approved by a judge who generally doesn't approve those applications, which made me feel very good. I've been retired for 8 years now, but I remain involved in my community through attending Board of Education meetings in Meriden, Connecticut, and I'm hoping to get involved in outreach to churches to educate Americans about immigration law.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Tatiana
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to hard work and love of the work that I did. I believed in what I was doing, which made all the difference. The support of my spouse and my children was also crucial to my success. And honestly, my clients themselves played a role - they were just good people, and working with them was meaningful to me.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
To tell you the truth, I've not received good career advice. I went to law school when I was older, and even though there were more women than men in my classes, people my age were kind of an oddity, and professors didn't quite know what to do with me. The guy who hired me wasn't interested in my career or helping me learn anything - I later found out he would just hire people for short periods and fire them. So basically, from my perspective, that's a failing of the law school and of the attorney who hired me. It was kind of touch and feel, you know, this works, this doesn't work.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would like them to remember that money is not the ultimate reward. Money doesn't really - should not be the measure of your worth and success. Immigration law involves people, and people come to an immigration attorney usually when they need some assistance, when they need help. So my advice is to listen to them, to get their full story, and to be empathetic. You have to have empathy to be in that type of industry.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Right now, the biggest challenge is that the Trump administration is not adhering to the law, which is making things worse. Next in line as far as challenges go is that we're still living under 1990s immigration law, which is inhumane and doesn't meet our economic needs. Under the Trump administration, every time you go to court, you're very likely to be faced with a judge who really doesn't know immigration law and is just there to follow the line of the government, of ICE. The government's line right now is massive deportation. Even if your client is here lawfully, your client can be deported. Those are the challenges we're facing.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
My most important value is to treat each person as if they were my brother or sister. I believe in seeing the humanity and recognizing the humanity of each person, and then living that out in everything I do.
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