Our attorneys hold or have held leadership positions in bar associations, immigration law foundations, immigrant coalitions, and civic, business and community organizations concerned with immigration issues. They are extremely well-qualified and intensely committed to the practice of immigration law.

Our firm's managing principals are Margaret H. McCormick, James Hallagan, Derek Strain, and Stephen Tarnoff. Our firm also has three additional lawyers with extensive immigration expertise.

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Margaret H. ("Peggy") McCormick has practiced exclusively in the field of U.S. immigration law, particularly business immigration since 1978. She was the national President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (1997-98) and served as President of the American Immigration Law Foundation (1999-2003). Since 1986, she has been an adjunct professor of immigration law at Loyola University School of Law. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Federal Bar Association (Chicago Chapter) and the national American Refugee Committee. She has lectured in many forums sponsored by lawyers organizations, law schools, foundations, business associations and community groups and has published numerous articles on business immigration topics. Ms. McCormick was appointed "Master Teacher" for the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education, teaching a full day program entitled "Employing Foreign Nationals in High-Tech Positions." She has testified in the U.S. Senate on problems with processing and has appeared as an immigration law expert in U.S. court proceedings. She has served on immigration and citizenship councils for the city of Chicago and has chaired many immigration law committees and programs. Ms. McCormick is included in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers with a rating of AV by the Martindale-Hubbel Law Directory, has been listed in Woodward/White's Best Lawyers in America since 1992, is a member of the Leading Lawyers Network Advisory Board and was recently named a SuperLawyer in Illinois.

She is a graduate of De Paul University Law School and Loyola University in Chicago (Mundelein College).

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James Hallagan has been practicing immigration law since 1980, concentrating his practice in deportation defense, family and employment-based immigration and appeals. During the late 1980’s, he directed the firm’s program to obtain amnesty for its clients under the Immigration Reform and Control Act. Spanish speaking, he has a large Hispanic clientele and works extensively with a variety of other ethnic groups. He has successfully represented clients before the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and the Executive office for Immigration Review. He has served as Chair of the Asylum Liaison Committee for the Chicago Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. He holds a rating of AV by the Martindale-Hubbel Law Directory (very high to preeminent), has been named in the Leading Lawyers Network of Illinois (in the top 5% of the profession) as well as SuperLawyer in 2005.

Mr. Hallagan is a graduate of DePaul University Law School and the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is fluent in Spanish.

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Derek Strain has practiced in the field of immigration law for over nine years. His practice includes both family and employment based immigration, as well as asylum and removal cases. He is presently heading up the firm’s work with the newly established PERM system for legal permanent residence based upon employment. Before joining the firm in 1999, he served as the Director of Legal Services of Centro Romero, and staff attorney at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of the Organization of American States. Mr. Strain is a former Peace Corps Volunteer (Guatemala) and is fluent in Spanish. He has been an active member of the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association (AILA) since 1997, and has served as the chair of the local AILA Asylum Committee and on the Executive Office of Immigration Review Liaison Committees Liaison. He has also chaired the AILA Chicago Volunteer Legal Services (CVLS) Clinic Committee. Mr. Strain is a 1996 graduate of DePaul University College of Law, and also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts from the University of Kansas.

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Stephen Tarnoff has significant experience in both law and journalism, and has focused his practice in the employment-based immigration law area with the firm since 2001. Prior to his tenure with the firm, he was an employee benefits attorney with a benefits administration and consulting firm as well as an insurance coverage attorney for a major Chicago law firm. Also a journalist, Mr. Tarnoff has written for numerous publications on legal and business issues. He has taught an immigration law course for paralegal studies at Loyola University and has co-written articles on immigration law with the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. He holds his JD from John Marshall Law School, a master’s degree in history from the University of Missouri and a bachelor’s degree in history from Northern Illinois University.

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Patricia Luna has been practicing immigration law for seven years. Fluent in Spanish, Ms. Luna has considerable expertise in employment-based immigration as well as family-based immigration and naturalization. She represents a number of multi-national companies seeking international personnel, and handles their non-immigrant and immigrant petitions, as well as PERM applications. She has presented extensively and advised on workplace enforcement actions. Ms. Luna is a 2001 graduate of De Paul University College of Law, with undergraduate degrees in Political Science and Criminal Justice from Indiana University.

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John Shine has practiced immigration law since 2005. His practice focuses on family-based immigration, deportation defense, and citizenship and naturalization issues, including mandamus petitions in federal court. John holds a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from the University of Chicago and graduated from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2005. Fluent in Spanish, John has a large Hispanic clientele. While in law school, he completed an internship with the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Chief Counsel in Chicago. John was born in Dublin, Ireland, and was raised in Chicago.

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Beata Leja is a 2007 graduate of Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Her practice includes both employment-based and family-based immigration law. Prior to law school, she was a teacher in the Chicago Public Schools as a corps member of the national service corps Teach for America. She has a Master of Education from National-Louis University and two Bachelor’s degrees in Spanish and International Relations from the University of Southern California. She is fluent in Polish and conversant in Spanish.

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