Jeff Joseph is a graduate of the University of Denver, College of Law. He is a past Chapter Chair of the Colorado Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and currently serves as an elected director on the AILA National Board of Governors. Mr. Joseph currently serves as Vice Chair of the AILA National 2010 Annual Conference Planning Committee, and the AILA Membership Committee as well as the local Colorado USCIS liaison committee. He formerly served on the AILA National Liaison Committee with the headquarters of the Executive Office for Immigration Review for two years, two terms as chair of the AILA Amicus Committee, and for three years as a member of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Liaison Committee. In 2004, he received the Joseph Minsky Young Lawyer Award from AILA. In 2005, he was named a finalist in the Denver Bar Association/Denver Business Journal Best of the Bar Awards. In 2008, Mr. Joseph was nominated by the Denver Business Journal as one of Denver's "Forty under 40" which recognizes forty young entrepeneurs for their business skills, leadership and community service. In 2006 through 2009, Mr. Joseph was named a Colorado Superlawyer by Colorado Superlawyer Magazine (reserved for the top five percent of all licensed attorneys in the State of Colorado). 5280 Magazine also named Mr. Joseph a “Top Lawyer” in the area of immigration law for 2006 through 2009. In 2008, Mr. Joseph was appointed by Governor Bill Ritter to the Colorado Nonimmigrant Agricultural Seasonal Worker Pilot Program Advisory Council. In addition to AILA, Mr. Joseph is a member of the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar. He has been qualified as an expert witness before the state and federal courts on employment-related and criminal-related immigration issues, and is a frequent local and national lecturer on various immigration topics. Mr. Joseph has been a speaker at the annual AILA conferences every year since 2001, and he has also addressed numerous other regional and state immigration conferences. Mr. Joseph has represented clients before the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service, the Executive Office for Immigration Review, the Board of Immigration Appeals, the U.S. District Courts, and the Circuit Courts of Appeals, and has published several opinions in those courts. He is an adjunct professor of immigration law at the University of Denver, College of Law. Mr. Joseph is bi-lingual in Spanish and English. Mr. Joseph heads up the employment-based immigration section and works primarily on employment based immigration cases, employer sanctions and federal litigation. Mr. Joseph has been selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® in the specialty of Immigration Law. For over a quarter of a century, Best Lawyers® has been regarded – by both the profession and the public – as the definitive guide to legal excellence in the United States.
Selection to Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive and rigorous peer-review survey comprising more than 2.8 million confidential evaluations by the top attorneys in the country.
Kirby Gamblin Joseph is a graduate of the University of Denver, College of Law. Before co-founding Joseph Law Firm, P.C., Ms. Joseph worked for the Colorado State Public Defender's Office as a criminal defense attorney. Ms. Joseph has lectured on the immigration consequences of criminal pleas and convictions. Ms. Joseph is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and was the 2006-2007 Colorado Chapter Chair for AILA. In addition, Ms. Joseph served on the National Board of Governors for AILA during 2006-2007. Ms. Joseph is currently the Colorado Ambassador to the American Immigration Law Foundation (AILF) and serves as a liaison between the Colorado AILA Executive Committee and the Colorado Bar Association (CBA). Ms. Gamblin Joseph has been nominated by the Denver Business Journal, Wells Fargo Bank and the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) for the Outstanding Women in Business Awards. The Outstanding Women on Business Awards recognize women for excelling professionally through innovation, perseverance, and leadership. Ms. Joseph has successfully represented clients before the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service, the Executive Office for Immigration Review and the Board of Immigration Appeals.
Emily White is a graduate of the University of Denver, College of Law. While at the University of Denver, she also obtained a Masters of Social Work with a focus in public policy. Prior to law school, Ms. White received her B.A. in Philosophy with high honors from Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. She has worked previously on public policy issues, including immigration policy, for several organizations, including a non-partisan think tank and a statewide domestic violence coalition. Ms. White also held a position as a legal intern for a Colorado non-profit organization serving individuals in immigration detention. Ms White is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and is bi-lingual in Spanish and English.
Aaron Hall is a graduate of the University of Colorado Law School. Mr. Hall earned his B.A. in Political Science from the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. During his time at the University of Colorado, Mr. Hall studied Spanish during a semester abroad in Alicante, Spain. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa, he moved to Lima, Peru, to hone his Spanish language skills at the Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano. Prior to law school, Mr. Hall worked as a community organizer in Denver and Ft. Collins, Colorado. Prior to joining Joseph Law Firm, P.C., Mr. Hall had experience working with detained non-citizens at the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Center ("RMIAN"). Mr. Hall is bi-lingual in Spanish andEnglish.
Koby Polaski
Associate Attorney
koby@immigrationissues.com
Koby Polaski is a graduate of the University of Denver, College of Law. While at the University of Denver, Ms. Polaski received the Scholastic Excellence Award for immigration law. She also spent three months as an intern with a corporate law firm in Caracas, Venezuela. Ms. Polaski worked for Holland & Hart, LLP as a law clerk with the immigration group and completed a summer internship with the Joseph Law Firm. Prior to law school, Ms. Polaski volunteered for the Denver Center for Crime Victims, where she helped immigrant women obtain relief under the Violence Against Women Act. Ms. Polaski completed her undergraduate education at Colorado College with a B.A. in English and a minor in Spanish. While at Colorado College, she studied abroad in Barcelona, Spain. Ms. Polaski is bilingual in English and Spanish.
Dea McCart is a graduate of the University Denver College of Law and Daniels Business College where she received a Masters of Science in Legal Administration (MSLA). While at the University of Denver, she was awarded the Scholastic Award of Excellence in Knowledge Management. She earned her B.S. degree in Human Resource Management with a minor in psychology from Colorado Christian University, a certificate of Paralegal Studies from the Denver Paralegal Institute, and later earned the national CLA designation through the National Association of Legal Assistants. Dea is a member of the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA) and served as the President of the Mile High Chapter Association of Legal Administrators in 2007.
Amber Blasingame earned her B.A. degree in English from Allegheny College in Meadville, PA, with minors in French and Communication Arts. She attended the Philadelphia Paralegal Institute in Philadelphia, PA, and received her paralegal certificate in International Trade Law and Business. Before returning to her native Denver, in 2001, Ms. Blasingame managed the immigration team in the US and Canada for one of the “Big 4” accounting firms’ multi-national consulting practices. Her experience includes US and international business immigration, including working knowledge of Canadian immigration. She is a member of the Rocky Mountain Paralegal Association. In addition to working at Joseph Law Firm, P.C. since 2002, Ms. Blasingame is a law student at the University of Denver, College of Law. After her first year of law school, Ms. Blasingame was selected to the University of Denver law review board which is reserved for individuals who have excelled academically during their first year of law school. Ms. Blasingame represents clients on family-based immigration matters, business immigration, and consular processing cases.
Linda Shindler earned her B.A. degree in German from the University of Texas at Austin, and her Paralegal Certificate from the Denver Paralegal Institute. Prior to joining Joseph Law Firm, P.C. in 2002, she was employed for ten years at a small immigration firm in downtown Denver. Ms. Shindler came to Denver in 1992, before which she lived in several states and in Germany. Ms. Shindler represents clients on the removal side of the practice and is bi-lingual in German and English.
Gwyneth Wendy Sánchez earned her B.S. degree in Community Development and Applied Economics from the University of Vermont, with a minor in Sociology. She graduated from Kaplan College, formerly the Denver Paralegal Institute, in 2007, with a certificate in Paralegal Studies. Prior to joining Joseph Law Firm, P.C., she worked as a professional research assistant for several years. Gwyneth is a former client of Joseph Law Firm, P.C. and she has first-hand knowledge of the family immigration process through serving as her husband’s sponsor for permanent residency. Ms. Sánchez has lived in Mexico and Guatemala and spent time in Honduras and Italy. She has been a volunteer of the American Friends Service Committee’s group Coloradans for Immigrant Rights since 2005. Ms. Sánchez represents clients on the removal side of the practice and is bi-lingual in Spanish and English.
Megan Healy is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, where she earned her B.A. in English, with a minor in Anthropology. During her time at Notre Dame, she studied abroad in London, and participated in several service-learning opportunities around the country. Before joining the Joseph Law Firm, Megan was a member of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. She worked as the Life Skills Specialist for Catholic Charities’ Refugee Resettlement Program in Phoenix, Arizona, where she developed her interest in immigration issues.
Dana McDonald is a graduate of the University of Colorado, where she earned her B.A. in History. She went on to graduate from Kaplan College, fomerly known as the Denver Paralegal Institute, with a certificate of Paralegal studies. Dana was born in Canada and became a naturalized citizen when she was 14. She has first hand knowledge of immigration issues, through her own personal experiences coming to the U.S.
Jessica Serrano was born in Los Angeles, California. She later moved to Colorado in 1995. Ms. Serrano’s immediate family is originally from El Salvador. Ms. Serrano is bi-lingual in Spanish and English.
