Understanding Immigration Law and Practice, Third Edition

Judith Bernstein-Baker

From 1998 until her retirement in October 2016, Judith Bernstein-Baker, M.S.W., Esq., was the Executive Director of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) Pennsylvania. HIAS Pennsylvania’s legal staff handles more than 2,000 immigration cases annually and represents foreign nationals before the U.S. immigration courts, Board of Immigration Appeals, and federal courts. Prior to becoming Executive Director of HIAS Pennsylvania, Ms. Bernstein-Baker was the founding Director of the Public Service Program at the University of Pennsylvania Carey School of Law and was named Honorary Fellow of Pennsylvania Law School in1998.

For over ten years, Ms. Bernstein-Baker has taught immigration law and policy to paralegals and college students, most recently at Philadelphia Community College and Chestnut Hill College. Ms. Bernstein-Baker has authored several articles on immigration policy, citizenship, refugee resettlement, and immigrant youth in publications such as The Legal Intelligencer, The Philadelphia Lawyer, the Philadelphia Bar Institute, the Temple Political and Civil Rights Law Review and the Center for Law and Social Policy. A frequent course planner, lecturer, and trainer on immigration issues, she has given over 80 presentations to bar associations, non-profits, and community groups in the past 20 years.

In addition, she handles a robust pro bono case load and specializes in representing asylum seekers, at-risk youth, victims of interpersonal violence and those seeking citizenship. Ms. Bernstein-Baker is an active member of the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association and has served on its executive committee. She is currently co-chair of its Pro Bono Committee. In 2022, she received a Pro Bono Champion award from the Chapter. Prior awards include the Philadelphia American Immigration Lawyers Service Award (2017); the inaugural Pennsylvania Bar Pro Bono Award (2015) and the Philadelphia Bar Foundation Award (2013). In April 2017, by resolution, Ms. Bernstein-Baker was recognized by the Philadelphia City Council for her efforts on behalf of immigrants and refugees.

Ayodele Gansallo

Having initially qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales, Ayodele Gansallo is admitted as an attorney in New York State. She has been working on immigration and nationality issues with nonprofit organizations both in the U.S. and in the United Kingdom for over thirty years and is now employed as an immigration judge. Ms. Gansallo is a graduate of Temple University’s Beasley School of Law's LLM program. She was the Co-Legal Director and senior staff attorney with Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) Pennsylvania from 1999 to 2022. There, she focused her practice on complex litigation before the U.S. Immigration Court, the Board of Immigration Appeals, Federal District Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. During this period, Ms. Gansallo provided mentorship and training on immigration issues to pro bono attorneys and community groups. From 2009 to 2021, Ms. Gansallo was an Adjunct Professor and Clinical Supervisor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey School of Law's Transnational Legal Clinic, where she supervised students as they provided representation and developed legal skills in a human rights and immigration law casework setting. Ms. Gansallo was a member of the Executive Committee of the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association (AILA) from 2018 to 2022 and chaired the organization for eight months. She was also a member of the Executive Office for Immigration Review's Pro Bono Liaison Committee. Ms. Gansallo is a recipient of the AILA Philadelphia Chapter Matthew Baxter Mentorship Award, co-recipient of the AILA Philadelphia Chapter 2017 Pro Bono Champion Award, a recipient of SEAMAAC's Unsung Heroine Award for 2017, the Philadelphia Bar Foundation Award for 2017, a recipient of the 2018 Global Woman Legal Award from the Global Woman P.E.A.C.E. Foundation and the 2018 Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Immigration Law Pro Bono Award.