Lawyers and staff

 Joy Trotter, Director of Legal Services, jtrotter@iibuff.org

Joy Trotter joined the IIB in January 2009.  She brings with her over fifteen years of legal experience, much of it with public institutions. She is a graduate of New York University, College of Arts and Sciences, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a minor in Russian Language, and received her J.D. from the University at Buffalo Law School, where she was Assistant Executive Editor of the Buffalo Law Review. She is a member of the New York State Bar Association, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), and the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York, for which she has served as Chapter President.  She was named by the Women’s Bar as the "Doris S. Hoffman Outstanding New Lawyer of the Year" for 1998. Ms. Trotter is active in a number of civic and professional organizations. She has served as President and Board Member for the Western New York Law Center, as Secretary and Vice President of the Nichols School Alumni Board, and as a member of the Steering Committee of The New Group at the Gallery, where she served as the Chair of the group's June event "Art Alive!", and has also volunteered for such organizations as Buffalo In Bloom and the Buffalo Museum of Science.  Prior to law school, she was employed at the White House as a Correspondence Analyst under the administration of President George Herbert Walker Bush. 

Immigration Attorney, Vacant

João Moreira, International Case Worker, jmoreira@iibuff.org

João Moreira holds a Political Science degree from Buffalo State College (2005).  He has extensive experience living abroad and is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese. Mr. Moreira started at the International Institute of Buffalo in January 2006 as a Legal Assistant, and has been an Accredited Representative* since February 2009. Mr. Moreira represents clients in affirmative cases, which include family petitions, adjustment of status, and citizenship applications.

*Mr. Moreira is partially accredited by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), therefore he may represent clients in affirmative (i.e.: non court cases).

Michael Santomauro, Legal Assistant, legalassistant@iibuff.org

Bio pending