Join OAESV for the Autumn Double Feature: Immigration and Employment Law for Advocates where two attorneys will speak on two vitally important topics to survivors in Ohio: Employment and Immigration.  Attorney Matthew Besser will join us to speak on employment issues and highlight crucial laws for advocates.  Inna Simakovsky will join us to review U visas, T visas, VAWA, SIJS, and recent changes that will be helpful for advocates when speaking with and advocating for survivors.  We look forward to you joining us for this half day overview on Employment and Immigration laws.

Matthew D. Besser is the Managing Principal at Bolek Besser Glesius, where he represents individuals in employment discrimination and civil rights cases. In July 2021, he also became the General Counsel of the ACLU of Ohio. For his work representing employees, U.S. News’ The Best Lawyers in America recently named Besser its 2022 Cleveland employment “Lawyer of the Year.” In 2020, the Ohio State Bar Association gave him its Best Ohio Supreme Court Brief Award. In addition to his day job, Besser serves on the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association’s Board of Directors and is the former chair of its Certified Grievance Committee.

Inna Simakovsky is uniquely positioned to understand the plight that so many immigrants face because she too was once a refugee.  In 1976, Simakovsky and her parents emigrated from the former Soviet Union, fleeing the persecution and discrimination Jews were experiencing under Communist rule. As one of the first waves of Soviet Jews to leave, the family was fortunate to get out before the iron curtain fell.  Still, the experience of leaving one’s home and family, possibly forever, was traumatic. It would be another 15 years before her mother’s entire family could join them.    She graduated with a Juris Doctorate from the Mortiz College of Law at Ohio State University in 1998 and was admitted to the Washington State Bar. Simakovsky practiced law in Washington state and California.  Simakovsky returned to Columbus in 2004 and for the next three years she supervised the largest non-profit immigration services provider in Columbus. Inna also started immigration programs at the Economic and Community Development Institute in Columbus, Ohio and Asian Services in Action in Cleveland, Ohio.  Simakovsky is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and is admitted to practice before all federal immigration courts   Simakovsky’s dedication to the immigrant community expands well beyond her legal practice. She is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), the oldest international migration and refugee resettlement agency in the U.S.  She is also a past member of the advisory board of Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC), a national immigrant advocacy organization located in Washington D.C. Regionally, Ms. Simakovsky is a past member of the Ohio Literacy Network and is a renowned and sought-after expert and speaker on immigration topics across the country.