Attorneys

Carlina Tapia-Ruano (firm founder)

Carlina Tapia-Ruano has been concentrating her practice in the field of immigration law for over two decades. She has handled a broad range of family and employment based immigration matters and has extensive experience in immigration related litigation. Ms. Tapia-Ruano is a past President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), a national bar association of over 11,000 attorneys and law professors. She is the first Hispanic ever to be been elected to this position. Ms. Tapia-Ruano has served as a liaison to various federal government offices, she has been Chair of the Chicago Bar Association Section on Immigration Law, and was a prior board member of the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois. Ms. Tapia-Ruano has testified before the US Congress on the USA PATRIOT Act, is a frequent lecturer on immigration law to attorneys all over the US, and appears frequently on Spanish-language television programs. She is currently a Commission of the American Bar Association, Immigration Section. She taught immigration law at IIT-Chicago Kent School of Law and DePaul College of Law in Chicago. She holds a rating of AV (very high to preeminent) by the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory has been listed in Woodward/White's Best Lawyers in America, Leading Lawyers Network and was recently named a “Super Lawyer” in Illinois. Ms. Tapia-Ruano is a naturalized citizen who emigrated to the U.S. from Cuba, and speaks fluent Spanish. In May of 2004, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Law Degree from Illinois Wesleyan University, the institution, which awarded her a BA alma cum laude in 1977. She obtained her J.D. from DePaul University Law School, in Chicago, Illinois. Email: ctapia-ruano@trgpc.com

Jeffrey Gunn (firm founder)

JEFFREY W. GUNN, admitted to Illinois State bar in 1984; admitted to the United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit; to the United States District Courts for the States of Illinois (Northern and Central Districts), Michigan (Eastern District), Indiana (Northern District), and Colorado; and to the Trial Bar for the Seventh Circuit. AV rated by Martindale-Hubbel. Education: Illinois Wesleyan University and Loyola University (B.A., summa cum laude, 1977), DePaul University (J.D., 1984). Public Service: Midwest Immigrant & Human Rights Center, Chicago, since 1986. Language: Spanish. Email: jgunn@trgpc.com

Rocio Armendariz

Rocio is a licensed attorney in Illinois who is “of counsel” to our firm. She received her Bachelor’s of Arts degree in International Relations from Boston University, in Boston Massachusetts and is a graduate of DePaul University College of Law, in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to receiving her BA she studied for a year at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, in Spain, and while in law school, she studied Human Rights Law in Costa Rica and in Mexico. She is a native Spanish speaker and experienced in criminal law defense. Email: rarmendariz@trgpc.com