Gail Pendleton is Executive Director of ASISTA, which provides national advocacy, training and technical assistance on rights and routes to status for immigrant survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and related crimes and is funded by private members and by the federal Office on Violence Against Women. Formerly Associate Director of the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, where she worked for twenty years, she received the American Immigration Lawyers Association's (AILA) Human Rights Award in 2001, the NIPNLG's Carol King award in 2002, and the Federal Bar Association Immigration Law Division’s NGO Lawyer of the Year award in 2017. J.D., NYU School of Law (1985); A.B., Harvard/Radcliffe College (1981).

Cecelia serves as Senior Policy Counsel at ASISTA Immigration Assistance, where she focuses on policy, technical assistance, and trainings related to immigration remedies for survivors of violence. Before joining ASISTA in 2012, Cecelia worked as a supervising attorney at Women Empowered Against Violence in Washington, DC representing survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in civil and immigration cases.  She has also provided legal representation to low-income immigrants in a variety of defensive and affirmative immigration applications as a staff attorney at Ayuda in Washington, DC.

Sejal is joining ASISTA as our new Impact Litigation Consultant at the end of April 2019.  Formerly Legal Director of the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild (NIPNLG), she engaged in nationwide litigation, trained advocates, and authored practice advisories and reference materials. Previously, Sejal taught and worked on local and state immigration issues at the University of North Carolina’s School of Government. In addition, she has worked as an instructor in the Immigrant Rights Clinic of the New York University School of Law, as a public defender with the Bronx Defenders, and as a Kirkland and Ellis fellow at the Immigrant Defense Project. She earned a BA from Duke University and a JD from New York University School of Law.

Laura  comes to ASISTA with over twenty years' experience having practiced in private, non-profit and academic organizations. While Laura’s experience includes all areas of immigration law, her  primary focus area has been representing and advocating for immigrant survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking.  Throughout Laura’s career, she has created various pro bono and education programs, and has served as a mentor to different levels of staff including attorneys, law students,  & BIA accredited representatives.

Amy comes to ASISTA with five years' experience, serving most recently as Senior Staff Attorney for Tahirih Justice Center in Washington, DC. At Tahirih,  Amy represented immigrant survivors of gender-based violence, and was a mentor and trainer for pro bono attorneys needing technical assistance on humanitarian forms of relief including VAWA self-petitions, Battered Spouse Waivers, U and T nonimmigrant status, and asylum.

Ahlam Moussa came to ASISTA in September 2013 with 15 years of prior business administration experience, including project and senior level management experience for multinational corporations. Ahlam is fluent in Arabic and provides administrative support for all staff as well as financial management and budgets.

Maria has been with ASISTA since 2009. She is primarily responsible for ensuring grant compliance and arranging logistics for implementation of ASISTA's project and membership.  She produces and conducts Spanish-language webinars for ASISTA as well as the drafting, editing and translation of many of ASISTA's resources.  She has also served as a BIA accredited representative.