Chris is a criminal defense attorney in Seattle. He has represented immigrant clients seeking post-conviction relief due to defects in the underlying criminal proceedings and has advised immigration attorneys on various aspects of criminal law. Chris is committed to assisting immigrants in avoiding excessive impact from the criminal justice system. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a B.A. in Economics, and received his law degree from the University of Washington.

Marie Higuera is a Pacific Northwest native. She received her B.A. from Eastern Washington University and her law degree from the University of Washington. In the course of her studies, she also attended the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in Mexico City and the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain. Marie has devoted her legal career to the practice of immigration law. In addition to practicing at a leading immigration law firm in Seattle, she worked as a staff attorney at Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and remains an active pro bono volunteer. She speaks on immigration issues to the legal and immigrant communities of the Puget Sound area. Ms. Higuera and her staff also write an immigration law advice column for the weekly Spanish language newspaper, Raza del Noroeste.

Abigail is an attorney for the U.S. Department of Labor in the Office of the Solicitor enforcing federal labor laws including safety laws, reemployment rights for veterans, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and other labor laws. She was born in the Philippines and emigrated to the United States in 1985 as the first of six children. Abigail first volunteered with NWIRP as a law student and continued to volunteer as a pro bono attorney. She is the President of the Filipino Lawyers of Washington [FLOW] and volunteers as an attorney for the Asian Bar Association/King County Bar Association Legal Clinic. She earned both her B.A. in Political Science and her J.D. at the University of Washington.

Truong emigrated to the U.S. in 1980 as the youngest child of a Vietnamese refugee family of nine. Truong works in the retirement plan market as an investment analyst for Kibble & Prentice. He has a degree in Economics from Knox College.

Greg has volunteered as pro bono attorney for many individuals and families dealing with immigration problems, especially VAWA, asylum, and U visa cases. He took his first immigration case as a volunteer in Colorado in 1975. Greg has been a member of the Washington State Bar Association’s Pro Bono & Legal Aid Committee for several years and is also a board member and long-time volunteer college and financial aid counselor for College Access Now (CAN), which serves highly motivated Seattle-area high school students who are low-income and first generation in their family to attend college. During his career, Greg has been a biotech corporate executive, including CEO and board member for several public and private companies, a corporate/transactional partner in two large international law firms, and a Fulbright Scholar in law at the Academy of Foreign Trade in Moscow.

Vincent Lachina is a native of the South. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, was raised in Jackson, Mississippi, and spent his college and early adult years in Birmingham, Alabama. He is a graduate of Samford University in Birmingham with a degree in English and Religion, and the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, with the Masters degree in Religion and Education. For more than 45 years, he has held various positions, both nationally and locally in East Africa, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kansas and Washington State. For ten years he served as the senior pastor for one of the oldest non-denominational evangelical churches in the Seattle area. While pastoring smaller congregations, he simultaneously held secular employment – 14 years with the Boeing Aerospace Company as an Industrial Engineer and later with a Seattle communications company as Director of Operations. In November of 2004, Lachina was hired for the position of Washington State Chaplain for the Planned Parenthood affiliates of Washington, Alaska, Idaho and Northwest Oregon, based in Seattle. In that role, he has created a faith community network of progressive congregations which now numbers over 500. Vincent has one son, Joshua who lives in Missoula, Montana, with his wife and Vincent’s grandson, Dakota.

Shawn is the Controller at BECU, a not-for-profit credit union cooperative. He is also on the board of directors for the Issaquah Soccer Club. Shawn is a CPA in the states of Washington and California. He graduated from California State University – Chico with a BS in Business Administration – Accounting.

Martine Pierre-Louis manages Interpreter Services and Community House Calls at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. She holds a master in public health with a focus on international health. A Haitian Creole and French interpreter for over a decade, Martine is a founding member and past board member for both the Society of Medical Interpreters and the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care. For many years, she has been involved in community-based public health efforts with a focus on access to health care and for refugees and immigrants.

Uma Rao, a 2nd generation South Asian American, has been an active part of the anti-violence and feminist movements for 12 years. Her roles have been to organize communities, serve on boards, train, and to raise funds. She currently also serves as the board chair of the King County Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Her interests in building stronger movements include grassroots philanthropy, community-based research & strategies, and leadership development. Uma has been a fan of NWIRP since she moved to Seattle in 2004 when she saw how its legal services benefited so many survivors of domestic violence. She is honored to give back by serving on the board. Uma enjoys hot cups of chai, great stories and dancing to loud music in the mornings.

Michael R. Wrenn is a named partner in the law firm of Wolfe Wrenn & Zariski and specializes in complex litigation. From 1995 to 2005, Michael was a member of the Board of Trustees for the King County Bar Foundation and its President for 2000 and 2001. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Washington.