Attorneys
Carlina Tapia-Ruano
E-Mail: ctapia-ruano@trgpc.com
Carlina Tapia-Ruano has been concentrating her practice in the field of immigration law for over three 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 a past Commissioner of the ABA Commission on Immigration. Ms. Tapia-Ruano was recently appointed, by the ABA President, to serve as a member of the Advisory Committee to the ABA Presidential Commission on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities. She taught immigration law at IIT-Chicago Kent School of Law and DePaul University 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 has repeatedly been 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 College of Law, in Chicago, Illinois.
Jeffrey Gunn
E-Mail: jgunn@trgpc.com
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 College of Law (J.D., 1984). Public Service: Midwest Immigrant & Human Rights Center, Chicago, since 1986. Language: Spanish.
Vanessa Pineda
E-Mail: vpineda@trgpc.com
Ms. Pineda has been admitted to the Illinois State Bar as a licensed attorney. She obtained her J.D. from DePaul University College of Law in 2011 and her B.A. in History and Political Science from Arizona State University in 2008. Ms. Pineda previously worked with immigrants at the Life Span Center in Chicago and with the DePaul University Law Immigration Clinic. In addition, she has worked as a Law Clerk in the Cook County Public Defender’s Office, and as an intern representing clients in civil rights cases. During law school, Ms. Pineda held the position of President of the DePaul Latino Law Student Association from 2009 to 2010. In addition, she was Co-President of the Public Interest Law Association and Associate Article Editor for the Journal for Social Justice from 2010 to 2011. She was a recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Service in 2011 and the Dean’s Award for Service in 2010. In 2010 Ms. Pineda participated in representing detained immigrant children in Texas as part of the PRO-BAR Program sponsored by the ABA. She has also participated in Human Rights Programs in Chiapas, Mexico and in San Jose, Costa Rica. Ms. Pineda is the child of immigrants from Mexico and El Salvador and is fluent in Spanish.