About Us
Daniel Shanfield, Esq.
Founder and President
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.
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. He is also a former federal immigration prosecutor – an experience that provided in-depth knowledge on the tricks used by immigration. He uses this knowledge to beat immigration “at their own game.” Daniel takes pride in his ability to use his knowledge and experience to the advantage of his clients.
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 General of Mexico in San Jose 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 enjoys teaching and writing on immigration law topics, and is an active member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and the International Law Committees of the American Bar Association and California State Bar. 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.
For his efforts on behalf of Northern California’s immigrant community, Daniel has been awarded the Premio Tequio by the Consulate General of Mexico in San Jose.
Education
- University of California, San Diego – Political Science (1989 – 1991)
Activities and Societies: Associate Editor, International Tax and Business Law Journal; Member, La Raza Law Students Association
Prosser Award for Research in International Human Rights Law
- University of California, Los Angeles – BA in Political Science (1991 – 1993)
Activities and Societies: Member, Pi Sigma Alpha Political Science Honors Society; Legal Services Coordinator, Proyecto de Inmigrantes y Refugiados Latinoamericanos
Magna cum laude, Highest Departmental Honors in Political Science
- University of California, Berkeley – School of Law (1993 – 1996)
Merle Kahn
Attorney of Counsel
Merle Kahn has been exclusively practicing immigration law for over twenty-five years. She has experience in removal defense, criminal immigration issues, asylum and refugee law, naturalization, and family-based immigration. She represents clients before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Board of Immigration Appeals, USCIS, ICE, and the Superior Court of California.
Merle Kahn has been exclusively practicing immigration law for over twenty-five years. She has experience in removal defense, criminal immigration issues, asylum and refugee law, naturalization, and family-based immigration. She represents clients before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Board of Immigration Appeals, USCIS, ICE, and the Superior Court of California.
She works with criminal prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys to craft criminal pleas that will not have adverse immigration consequences and works on post-conviction relief cases for immigrants. She is the creator and author of the acclaimed immigration blog, Top of the Ninth. She is a frequent presenter at Continuing Legal Education programs for the American Immigration Lawyers Association and provides legal advice and assistance for several non-profit organizations in the Bay Area. She is the founder and director of the Jewish Family Services/American Immigration Lawyers Association pro bono legal clinic for refugees.
Prior to joining Daniel Shanfield Immigration Defense PC. as Of Counsel, Merle was a staff attorney at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco where she ran a legal hotline for immigration professionals, wrote practice manuals, and presented at legal education seminars on immigration law. She was an associate at the Law Offices of Angela M. Bean, where she focused her practice on removal defense and on Ninth Circuit litigation, and was an adjunct professor at Evergreen Community College and San Francisco City College where she taught immigration law.
Before entering the field of immigration law, Merle worked as a prosecutor for the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission in Illinois, and as a law clerk for the District of Columbia Office of Bar Counsel where she investigated and prosecuted attorney misconduct.
Merle is a graduate of the George Washington University National Law Center in Washington DC and the University of Illinois in Champaign, Illinois where she graduated with High Distinction in English Literature. She is admitted to practice before the California Supreme Court, District of Columbia Bar, Illinois Supreme Court, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. She is an active member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
Merle was awarded the 2016 AILA Pro Bono Champion and the Vlada Gelfond Visionary Award from Jewish Family Services.
Revital Shavit Barsheshet
Attorney of Counsel
Revital joined the firm as an Associate Attorney in 2017. Revital’s practice focuses on all areas of family-based and employment-based immigration law, including non-immigrant visas, immigrant visas, removal defense and representation in front of government agencies.
Revital joined the firm as an Associate Attorney in 2017. Revital’s practice focuses on all areas of family-based and employment-based immigration law, including non-immigrant visas, immigrant visas, removal defense and representation in front of government agencies. Revital is passionate about helping her clients, companies and individuals, in achieving their goals and enjoys working with her diverse clientele.
Revital is a graduate of Tel Aviv University Law School (LL.B, 2011) and has been practicing law internationally since 2012. She is admitted to the state bars of California, New York, and Israel, and is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).
Revital is fluent in Hebrew; she loves hiking, and practices Pilates and running after her four-years-old to keep in shape.
Miguel Melendrez
Senior Paralegal
Miguel Melendrez is an experienced Senior Immigration Removal Defense Paralegal. For the last four years, he has passionately focused his career in helping the immigrant community.
Miguel Melendrez is an experienced Senior Immigration Removal Defense Paralegal. For the last four years, he has passionately focused his career in helping the immigrant community. He has exclusively worked with Family Immigration cases including: Removal Defense, Asylum, Naturalization, Immigrant Visas, and Non-Immigrant Visas under attorney supervision.
As a paralegal who has quickly built a successful career path, Miguel assists lawyers at Daniel Shanfield Immigration Defense PC in creating winning cases before the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, Executive Office for Immigration Review, and the United States Department of State. His previous Senior Paralegal position at a well-respected firm, Ganjoo Law Corporation, has given him the skills to master the soaring and complex immigration field.
He assisted Robert Morris University in Chicago, Illinois, where he obtained his Associates in Paralegal Studies, Bachelors in Business Administration and Masters in Business Administration (Magna Cum Laude graduate). Miguel was inducted into the International Honor Society for Business, Management and Administration, Lambada Epilson Chi (LEX): National Honor Society for Paralegals and the Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society.
When Miguel is not working, he enjoys discovering new music, going on drives, and spending time with his Family.
