About us

Liya Djamilova, Managing Attorney

Liya was born and raised in Uzbekistan, where she became a human rights lawyer. After moving to the USA, she started practicing immigration law and established her own firm. She has been in the legal field for more than 20 years dedicating all her time to defending human rights. In 2016, she received the Pro-Bono Award from the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association in Washington State for establishing and maintaining a program providing free legal assistance for detained immigrants.

You can watch Liya making oral arguments before the 9 circuit court of appeals at the following links: 

Danielle Richardson, Senior Attorney

Danielle Richardson was born in Seattle, Washington and has been involved in immigration law and policy since 2008. In 2010, she was able to travel to Arcatao, El Salvador as part of a volunteer group. Her personal relationship with many in the immigrant community help her to focus on immigration law not as just a legal issue, but a human one as well, and she is honored to be able to provide whatever help and service she can to those who cannot navigate these tumultuous waters alone.

Jerri Melendez, Associate Attorney

Jerri Melendez is a native of Houston, Texas. Both of Jerri’s parents are from El Salvador and this has driven his passion to help the immigrant community. After his first year of law school, Jerri interned with the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project where he helped clients with family petitions. After graduating from law school in 2018, Jerri practiced immigration law for almost two years, focusing on asylum cases, before joining our office.