Staff Page
Staff Biographies
• Sonia Parras Konrad
Director of the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence MUNA Legal
Clinic, Sonia is licensed to practice law in Iowa and Spain. She has
worked with immigrant survivors of domestic violence and sexual
assault since 1996. Sonia is an Advisory Board Member of the National
Network to End Violence Against Immigrant Women and is on the Board of
Directors of the National Lawyers Guild’s National Immigration
Project.
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• Gail Pendleton
Co-founder and co-chair of the National Network to End Violence
Against Immigrant Women and Associate Director of the National
Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, Gail has extensive
experience writing, training and advocating with government personnel
on issues related to immigration and gender violence.
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• Maria Jose T. Fletcher
Maria Jose is the Supervising Attorney/Director of Florida
Immigrant Advocacy Center. She has worked diligently on behalf of
bettered immigrant women and their Children, and is a national and
international speaker on the themes of immigration, domestic violence,
trafficking in persons, and advocacy.
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• Sally Kinoshita
VAWA Project Director of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San
Francisco, CA. Sally coauthored The VAWA Manual: Immigration Relief
for Abused Immigrants and coauthored Immigration Benchbook for
Juvenile and Family Courts. Sally will begin work as a consultant in
April.
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• Ana Vallejo
Ana is supervising attorney for Lucha: A Women’s Legal Project of
Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center. She currently specializes in
representing victims of sever forms of human trafficking. She is an
advocate for battered women and children and those who suffer
victimization as a result of international trafficking of persons. In
addition to her advocacy work, Ana is also a national and
international trainer and speaker on the themes of immigration,
domestic violence and trafficking in persons.
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• Ann Benson
Ann is the
Directing Attorney for the Washington Defender Association’s
Immigration Project in Seattle, Washington. WDA’s Immigration
Project advocates for the rights of noncitizens in the criminal and
juvenile justice systems and for the rights of noncitizens facing
the immigration consequences of crimes. WDA’s Immigration Project
is working in partnership with other national and regional
organizations to establish the Immigrant Justice Network, a
collaboration that advocates systemic reforms to address and
eliminate the criminalization of immigrant communities. Ms. Benson
is a member of the National Network to End Violence Against
Immigrant Women and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
She has taught Immigration Law at the University of Washington
School of Law. Formerly, she was the Legal Director for the
Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and has served on the Board of
Directors for the National Immigration Project of the National
Lawyers Guild and Hate Free Zone.
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•Joanne Picray
Joanne is currently a law student at Drake University Law School
in Des Moines, Iowa. Joanne interned with the MUNA Legal
Clinic of the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence before
beginning as the acting Clearinghouse Manager for ASISTA in February
of 2006. Joanne is now the Clearinghouse Manager at ASISTA, as
well as a student attorney at the Middleton Center for
Children's Rights at the Drake University Legal Clinic.
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•Veronica Mendez
Veronica is the ASISTA Assistant to the co-directors.
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