​Kristen A. Schneck, Esquire
~ Founding & Managing Partner ~

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Phone: (412) 253-4380
Email

    
​   Ms. Schneck is a seasoned Immigration Attorney. She represents individuals and businesses in all facets of immigration law, including family, employment, asylum and deportation matters. Over the course of her career, Ms. Schneck has practiced immigration law in numerous settings varying from a Solo Practice, to a named Partner in a boutique partnership, and a Partner in a large national law firm. In 2019, she left the big law firm environment in order to relieve her clients of the heavy administrative side burdens of large law firm representation. Ms. Schneck proudly reactivated her woman-owned solo practice in order to be able to better service her clients in a cost-conscious manner while emphasizing personal service.

   Ms. Schneck has a small town ethos which drives her motivation and passion in helping her immigration clients to achieve the American Dream. She is the great granddaughter of Portuguese immigrants who immigrated through the Ellis Island right before World War I on her maternal side while being the 10th generation direct descent of German immigrants known as "Pennsylvania Dutch" who settled north of Philadelphia, PA in the 1750s and carved out the town of Schnecksville, PA.    Ms. Schneck has experienced cultural differences while living abroad in Ecuador, Mexico, and Hungary, and recognizes the hardships that immigrants uniquely face in the US today maneuvering the complex US immigration system. 

    Married to a former immigrant/recently naturalized U.S. citizen, she has personally sat in the position of the family members of her immigration clients. This has shaped her to be the type of honest, hardworking, compassionate Immigration Attorney that you would want to represent you. Ms. Schneck thoroughly enjoys representing her clients to help navigate the USCIS immigration process, so they can obtain non-immigrant visas and work authorization, legal permanent residency status and US Citizenship. 
 
   Ms. Schneck frequently lectures on immigration topics such as "Know Your Rights seminars and appears on media panels and local NPR-affiliated radio stations broadcasts as a knowledgeable source on immigration law. She also advises general practice and criminal defense attorneys on immigration issues.  Recognized as a leader amongst her Western PA immigration attorney peers, Ms. Schneck is contacted daily by other immigration advocates and attorney colleagues for immigration problem-solving advice.  

   Ms. Schneck has a developed a reputation as a champion litigator, advocate and defender of human rights for her clients in the Immigration Court setting and well as with immigration-related Federal Court Litigation. This includes, but is not limited to, successful Immigration Bond Motions, successfully litigating both Affirmative and Defensive Asylum, Withholding of Removal and Convention Against Torture claims, successfully defending marriage fraud charges, presenting court-based Adjustment of Status cases to obtain Legal Permanent Residency by building and presenting strong evidence of extreme hardship to US Citizen children and US Citizen spouses, successfully winning Cancellation of Removal cases stopping the parent’s deportation  and getting the qualifying immigrant Legal Permanent Residency status. From 2018 – 2020, Ms. Schneck won a record 13 Asylum, Withholding of Removal  and/or CAT cases for her clients. Please see the descriptions below.

• Matter of G-J- , (Philadelphia, PA Imm. Ct. 2018) asylum granted to a former Salvadoran internal affairs detective/police officer and his immediate family members threatened by MS-13 and 18th St gangs based on future fear of persecution.
• Matter of J-G- (Philadelphia, PA Imm. Ct. 2018) in a companion case connected to Matter of G-J- above, the sister and children of a former Salvadoran detective and police officer  threatened with rape and death due to  family group membership to her brother were also granted asylum.
• Matter of O-S- (Philadelphia, PA Imm. Ct. 2018) asylum granted based on sexual orientation of  a Brazilian transgender individual targeted with violence in Brazil due to his sexual identity.
• Matter of P-P- (USCIS Arlington Asylum Office 2018), Asylum granted to a Venezuelan restaurant owner and his family based on political opinion after being assaulted and targeted by right-wing militia members for having demonstrated against the Maduro government and supported the opposition candidate during a national election.
• Matter of P-J-  (USCIS Arlington Asylum Office 2018) Asylum granted to a Venezuelan business owner and his family who were identified on the Tascon List as “enemies of the State” and were politically active as election polling station supervisors for the opposition COPEI party. The family was targeted by right wing collectives supporting the Maduro government and the patriarch of the family was kidnapped, extorted and assaulted in Caracas. The National Anti-Extortion Kidnapping Commission of the Bolivian National Guard turned a blind eye and failed to meaningfully investigate the kidnapping.
• Matter of A-O- (Philadelphia, PA Imm. Ct. 2018) Asylum granted to a Honduran  mother and child of indigenous descent due to persecution by MS-13 gang members who was targeted her due to her social group membership, gender and minority status.
• Matter of A-L- (Philadelphia, PA Imm. Ct. 2018), Asylum granted to a Guatemalan “campesino” juvenile farmer of indigenous descent whose family of farmers were targeted by narcotraffickers in Guatemala and he was a victim of attempted kidnapped when his father refused to sign over his property and landholdings to the narcotraffickers.
• Matter of M-R- (Philadelphia, PA Imm. Ct. 2019) Asylum granted to a  Salvadoran university student and Unaccompanied Minor Child who was targeted with death and future persecution by MS-13 gang members for his political opinion in opposition to FMLN political party. Client had previously worked for the conservative GANA political party campaign during the 2016 country-wide national  elections and was singled-out by MS-13 gang members for death after he was frequently seen in his neighborhood community wearing a T-shirt of a very conservative Salvadoran General Assembly Official and political figure Guillermo Gallegos known for being outspoken in promoting national policies of extensive gang reform and the use of the death penalty against gang members in gang-related crimes.
• Matter of G- (Philadelphia, PA Imm. Ct. 2019) Relief under the Convention Against Torture granted to a Salvadoran welder stabbed and seriously injured by MS-13 whom the Immigration Court determined would face future torture if forced to return to El Salvador after being erroneously perceived that he was a sympathizer to the rival 18th Street gang.
• Matter of J-C- (Philadelphia, PA Imm. Ct. 2019) Asylum granted to a Brazilian male championship soccer organizer shot at by hitmen and threatened with serious bodily harm who was a witness and whistle-blower reporting to the Brazilian police the embezzlement of a soccer tournament monetary award by a corrupt Brazilian government official.
• Matter of R-R- (Philadelphia, PA Imm. Ct. 2019) Relief under the Convention Against Torture granted to a Salvadoran teenager and unaccompanied minor whom the Immigration Court determined would suffer torture at the hands of MS-13 gang members if he was forced to return to El Salvador for refusing to pay daily extortion to the gang members that accosted him daily while walking to and from school.
• Matter of N-X- (Philadelphia, PA Imm. Ct 2019) Asylum granted to a Guatemalan Maya Mam woman of indigenous race and her child unable to escape an extremely abusive domestic violence situation by her Guatemalan ex-partner due to her race and gender.
• Matter of F-S- (Philadelphia, PA Imm. Ct. 2020) Asylum granted to a Brazilian waitress and her child who was walking home from work and was a witness and whistle-blower to an act of extreme Brazilian police brutality in the shooting and killing of unarmed teenage juveniles in a Brazilian favela during an alleged drug intervention.   The Brazilian police officers sent hitmen to break into and trash her house, threaten her and her daughter’s safety and ran her motorcycle off the highway causing an accident with extensive injuries to her in an attempt to silence her from reporting the act of police brutality to the authorities and demanding justice. 

   In the detained immigration court setting environment, Ms. Schneck has successfully litigated against the denial of reasonable fear interviews before the detained immigration courts in York, PA and Youngstown, OH.  In 2018-2019, Ms. Schneck successfully reversed a negative reasonable fear determination case for a detained client at the York County Prison after filing a Petition for Review and seeking review before the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. She reversed another negative reasonable fear determination before the US Immigration Court in Cleveland, OH. She has also won multiple positive reasonable fear determinations before the USCIS Arlington Asylum Office for individuals facing the eminent threat of removal from the US while detained in the York County Prison sometimes resorting to emergency federal litigation to stop the immediate deportation. In all of these cases, Ms. Schneck was able to successfully stay the clients’ permanent removal from the US and prevent the permanent family separation from the clients’ US Citizen children. 

   Prior to her career in law, Ms. Schneck served as a consultant to the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington D.C. working with Ambassadors and high-level Diplomats in Latin American politics. From 2017-2019, she served as the Vice-Chair of the Welcoming Pittsburgh Advisory Committee to the Office of the Mayor of Pittsburgh. She participated regularly in the Mayor's Office Press Conferences on topics including DACA, Muslim Travel Ban and changes to the Federal Public Charge Rule. These press conferences raised awareness of immigrant issues and obstacles during the Trump Administration. Since 2013, Ms. Schneck continues to serve on the Board of Casa San Jose, Pittsburgh (a community resource center that links Latino neighbors in need with service providers and other resources to advance their welcome and integration). She has served as the Chair of the Pittsburgh Chapter of American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) from 2016-2017.  From 2016-2018, she served as an original Board Member of Thrive International, a non-profit in Williamsport PA. She focused on advising and supporting their Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) accreditation process and Immigration Legal Services Clinic during its first years of existence in offering immigration services to indigent and low-income immigrant populations locally. 
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Education

• J.D. University of Pittsburgh School of Law, 2003​
• University of Pittsburgh Honors Convocation, 2003
• Hungarian Nationality Room Fellowship Honors, 2002
• B.A. Spanish at Penn State University, 1999
• B.A. Latin American Studies at Penn State University, 1999

Admissions

• New Jersey, December 2004
• U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, February 2005
• U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, June 2005
• U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, February 2012
• Third Circuit Court of Appeals, December 2017
• ​Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, August 2019

International Coursework and Experience

• Budapest, Hungary / Central European University                                                       
• Paris, France / Dispute Resolution Institute & International Chamber of Commerce         
• Guanajuato, Mexico / Summer Law Institute & University of Guanajuato School of Law    
• Guanajuato , Mexico /  Guanajuato State Supreme Court of Justice                               
• Ecuador / Undergraduate studies    

Other Languages

• Fluent in Spanish & Portuguese; Knowledge of Hungarian & Hindi
  

Memberships

• Board Member, Casa San Jose, Pittsburgh (http://www.casasanjose.org/)

         Casa San Jose is a community resource center that links Latino neighbors in need with service providers and other     
             resources to advance their welcome and integration. Casa San Jose strives to create a welcoming community for Latino 
         immigrants by providing opportunities for their civic and social engagement.

• American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)

          Past Chair of the Pittsburgh Chapter of AILA
              Past Secretary of the Pittsburgh Chapter of AILA

• Williamsport/Lycoming Chamber of Commerce