Natalia Ruggiero

Partner Natalia Ruggiero practices in various areas of immigration law, including family-based immigration, asylum, waivers of inadmissibility and unlawful presence, and removal defense. She received her Juris Doctorate from Temple University Beasley School of Law. Natalia is licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania and is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the Hispanic Bar Association of Pennsylvania. A daughter of immigrants, Natalia is fluent in Spanish and she understands the anxieties that often accompany immigration processes. As a Senior Associate at the firm, she enjoys mentoring law students interested in immigration law.

Natalia clerked for the Philadelphia Immigration Court in 2018, where she drafted judicial opinions for Immigration Judges. In 2019, Natalia traveled to the US-Mexico border in Tijuana to help asylum seekers with the organization Al Otro Lado.

As a law student, Natalia worked in a variety of settings advocating for immigrants. Natalia interned with HIAS Pennsylvania, working with victims of domestic violence on their U-Visa and VAWA applications. She represented undocumented workers with employment claims at Temple Law’s Sheller Center for Social Justice and partnered with the Philadelphia Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs to educate employers about immigrant worker rights. She had the opportunity to file administrative claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act on behalf of immigrant families who were forcibly separated and detained by the U.S. government. Prior to law school, Natalia obtained her Bachelor’s degree from the Pennsylvania State University, graduating magna cum laude with honors.

Natalia is currently serving on the Board of Directors for Esperanza Immigration Legal Services (EILS), a non-profit organization dedicated to offering free and low-cost legal services to immigrants and their families in the Philadelphia area.