Expertise You Can Trust

Daniel Shanfield, Esq.
Founder and Managing Attorney

Daniel Shanfield has succeeded in some of the most difficult immigration cases. Overseas, he led an appeals project to overturn visa denials by the U.S. Consulate, and has overseen numerous successful appeals for detained immigrants in the United States. He is a former INS litigation attorney who advised the government on a broad spectrum of immigration law issues, and was adjunct clinical law professor at New York Law School in Downtown Manhattan. Before entering private practice, Daniel was the Legal Services Manager with the U.S. refugee program in Europe, where he brought immigrants to safety and helped reunite them with loved ones in the United States. Daniel has also served as a migration and refugee advisor to the United Nations, and as an attorney overseeing pro bono legal representation for the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, now Human Rights First. His legal knowledge and uncommon insights are the critical difference behind his clients’ success.

Daniel is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law and UCLA (magna cum laude). He is admitted to practice before the California Supreme Court, Federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Federal District Court, Executive Office for Immigration Review, State Department, and Department of Homeland Security. He is currently the Consulate of Mexico Liaison for the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA SCV). Daniel previously served as AILA SCV Chapter Chair, and was Chair of the Immigration Section of the Santa Clara County Bar Association. Daniel's experience and skills have also been recognized by the Bar Association of San Francisco, which has selected him to serve on its Pro Bono Immigration Court Panel. Daniel holds a deep commitment to pro bono service, serving as an asylum law mentor for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco, and on the Legal Advisory Board of the Stanford Law School Immigrants’ Rights Clinic.

Daniel, a California native, is fluent in Spanish and French. As the child of parents from Latin America, he understands the challenges his immigrant clients face.

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Merle Kahn is Attorney Of Counsel for our office. Merle has two decades of experience in immigration law, where she has focused on removal defense especially for those who have been convicted of crimes, and on family based immigration cases. For the past several years, Merle has served as a legal consultant on the most complex immigration cases often involving criminal matters. Merle previously worked with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC) as a staff attorney and taught the ILRC’s 40 hour immigration course for legal practitioners throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Merle also worked for Angela M. Bean & Associates where she represented clients before INS/DHS, and litigated immigration cases before the Immigration Courts, the Board of Immigration Appeals and the Ninth Circuit. Merle is a mentor attorney for the San Francisco-based Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights’ Asylum Project and counsels pro bono attorneys on difficult asylum claims. This mixture of academic and hands-on legal experience makes Merle uniquely qualified to handle complex immigration issues. Prior to practicing immigration law, Merle was a prosecutor for the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Committee of the State Bar of Illinois and for the D.C. Bar prosecuting attorney misconduct.

Merle is a graduate of the George Washington University National Law Center (J.D.) in Washington, DC, and the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana (B.A., High Honors in English Literature).

Associations and Memberships Include:

• State Bar of California
• Bar of the District of Columbia
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• U.S. District Court For the Northern District of California
• American Immigration Lawyers Association

Heidi serves as Immigration Services Coordinator and Paralegal with our office, with an interest in asylum, family-based, and domestic violence cases. Heidi holds a Paralegal Certificate from the University of San Diego, and is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, B.A. Sociology (Inequality and Social Change), B.A. Feminist Studies (Movements, Institutions, Policy and Legal Studies). While at UC Santa Cruz, Heidi worked at a Domestic Violence Agency and received training to serve as a State Certified Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Peer Counselor.

Heidi has been involved in numerous complex asylum cases with refugees from diverse countries. This experience helped her better understand the circumstances that compel immigrants to leave their home countries and resettle here in the United States.

Heidi is the daughter of Latin American parents and is fluent in Spanish. After witnessing the various struggles her parents faced as immigrants, Heidi has dedicated herself to serving the immigrant community, refugees, and their families.

Alondra serves as a Legal Assistant with our office. Alondra is a graduate of University of California, Santa Cruz, B.A. Politics (International Law) and B.A. Latin American and Latino Studies (Immigration Policies and Theories). Alondra’s interest in immigration law and advocacy arose early in life, as she witnessed the struggle immigrant families faced in everyday in her largely immigrant inhabited hometown and in her own home.

Determined to get more than just an education at UC Santa Cruz, Alondra involved herself in numerous student and community organizations. Along with campaigning for the DREAM Act on behalf of undocumented immigrations students, Alondra was also a two-time co-director for the Latin American Latino Film Festival, CineMAiZ. Throughout her undergraduate career, Alondra also volunteered for a non-profit immigration clinic in Watsonville, where she learned the practice of immigration law. Alondra also interned in Washington, D.C. while in college for D.C. Public Schools, assisting a broadly diverse student population.

Alondra attributes her passion for immigration law to both her scholastic and personal experiences. She believes that these experiences inspired her to become a motivated and ambitious student. Yet, during her time as a student, focusing on research and theories, Alondra realized the importance of applying this knowledge in the serving of people and and the community around her.

What We Can Do For You

No matter what you’re facing, our firm can help you sort out the best solution for your immigration needs. Here are some of the services we offer:

Our firm can help English, Spanish, and French-speaking clients, and arrange for interpreters in almost any language. No matter what you’re facing, we can help you sort out the best solution for your immigration needs.

View our firm's profile at FindanImmigrationAttorney.com.

Contact the Immigration Law Office of Daniel Shanfield, Esq. today!