Sarah Thomas Maldonado

Sarah Thomas Maldonado graduated from Amherst College, summa cum laude, in 1989 and received her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1993. She was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1994. She is Of Counsel to the Firm and heads the Firm’s immigration law practice. She handles a wide range of immigration matters, focusing on employment-based and family-based immigrant and nonimmigrant visa cases. She also represents clients in naturalization/citizenship, employment authorization, temporary protected status, diversity lottery, asylum, NACARA, and cancellation of removal cases.

Ms. Maldonado is a former Assistant District Counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service in New York, where she litigated immigration cases before the Executive Office for Immigration Review and the Board of Immigration Appeals for five years. Prior to joining the Firm, she served as the immigration attorney for the Westchester Hispanic Coalition, a well-established not-for-profit agency. She provided legal advice, prepared applications and represented immigrants and their sponsors in cases with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the U.S. Department of State and the Executive Office for Immigration Review. She has also represented asylum-seekers on a pro bono basis for the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (now Human Rights First), while working as an associate in the corporate department at a prominent New York law firm.

Ms. Maldonado is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Immigration Law Committee of the Westchester County Bar Association, the Immigration Committee of the Westchester Women’s Bar Association, the Business Council of Westchester and the Hispanic Business and Professional Association of Westchester County. She is a past Secretary of the Committee on Foreign and Comparative Law of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. Ms. Maldonado founded the UVA International Human Rights Pro Bono Group and served as the President of the John Bassett Moore Society of International Law while attending the University of Virginia School of Law. She served as a member of the Articles Review Board and of the Editorial Board of the Virginia Journal of International Law. She was the recipient of a Ford Foundation grant to work on issues of international migration for employment at the International Labour Organisation in Geneva, Switzerland. Ms. Maldonado volunteers in immigration-related legislative advocacy efforts and provides pro bono services through the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the New York City Immigrant Advocacy Initiative, including participating in Citizenship Day and immigration legal clinics.