Our Attorneys
Maria Baldini-Potermin, Attorney
Maria received her J.D. degree cum laude in 1997. She served as an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Law School's Immigration Clinic from 1997 to 1999. In 1999, she received the Human Rights Volunteer Award from the Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights. She was the recipient of two National Association for Public Interest Law Equal Justice Fellowships to work with the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota in St. Paul (1997 - 1999) and the National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago (1999 - 2001).
Maria obtained her B.A. degree magna cum laude from the University of Dayton (Ohio) in International Studies and Spanish in 1990 and then spent four years working with detained noncitizens on the Texas-Mexico border at the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project (ProBAR), including two years as an accredited representative. She trained law students and traveled to ProBAR during law school breaks with the Asylum Law Project. She received an award for Outstanding Service in Defense of Human Rights through Asylum Representation from ProBAR in 1995. She speaks Spanish fluently.
Katheryn M.T. Wasylik, Associate Attorney
Katheryn is an experienced and dedicated attorney providing effective and efficient legal counsel to a wide variety of clients concerning business and family related immigration law. She is a graduate of DePaul University College of Law and she earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota in Spanish and Chicano Studies.
Katheryn has practiced immigration law exclusively since 2002. She manages a practice area that involves working with corporations, institutions, and individuals in preparing nonimmigrant visa petitions, labor certification applications, and employment-based visa petitions, including for priority workers, professionals, skilled workers, and investors. She also represents families, and defends individuals, including asylum seekers, in removal proceedings. She represents clients before the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of Labor, Immigration Courts, and the Board of Immigration Appeals. She is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and currently co-chairs the Chicago Chapter Illinois Department of Economic Security Liaison Committee. Katheryn has lectured on a variety of immigration law topics and is fluent in Spanish.
Julie Reiter Pellerite, Associate Attorney
Julie received her J.D. degree in 2009 from the University of Dayton School of Law. She is a 2003 graduate of the University of Dayton where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude in International Studies with a concentration in human rights and Spanish.
Prior to joining Maria Baldini-Potermin & Associates, P.C., Julie worked with Advocates for Basic Legal Equality of Northwestern Ohio's immigrant worker program, the Office of the Ohio Attorney General’s civil rights section, Ayuda, Inc. in Washington, D.C., and Franciscans International in Geneva, Switzerland as development coordinator. In 2009, she received the Brother Raymond Fitz Commitment to Community Award for her work serving the Dayton community. Julie is licensed to practice law in the State of Illinois and is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, and the Chicago Bar Association. She speaks Spanish.
Our Staff
Olga I. Villa
Senior Legal Assistant
Olga is the senior paralegal at Maria Baldini-Potermin & Associates, P.C. She earned a Associate in Applied Science Degree in Paralegal Studies from Robert Morris University. She began her experience working in the immigration law field in 1987. Olga is fluent in Spanish.
Olivia Villegas
Legal Assistant
Olivia is a third year law student at DePaul University College of Law. She was born in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, where she lived until she was eight years old. She attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan from 2001 to 2006, double majoring in Political Science and Latin American & Caribbean Studies. She studied Arabic and Middle Eastern politics for a semester at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. After graduation, Olivia and worked for the Dowagiac Migrant Program in Michigan for a year before starting law school at DePaul Law School. In her first year of law school, she and a classmate founded the Society for Asylum & Immigration Law. Olivia spent the summer of 2008 in Chiapas, Mexico, interning at the Fray Bartolome de las Casas Center for Human Rights. She previously volunteered at Life Span Center for Advocacy and Legal Services for a year and a half, working with immigrant women who have experienced domestic violence. Upon her graduation from law school, she plans to practice immigration law.
Dalia San Miguel
Senior Administrative Assistant
Dalia is from Chicago. Before joining Maria Baldini-Potermin & Associates, P.C., Dalia worked for over ten years at a record company as a personal assistant and office manager. She has extensive experience working as an office manager, travel coordinator, and administrator of accounts receivable and payable. Dalia speaks Spanish fluently.
Ashley Bell Administrative Assistant
Ashley is a graduate of the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University. She majored in Philosophy with an adjunct major in Legal Studies. Her thesis, Sexual Victimization of Tribal Women in the United States: The Rights of Tribal Governments and the Responsibility of the US Government, explores the relationship between the jurisdictions of tribal governments and the federal government in the United States when handling cases of sexual assault of tribal women on reservation lands. Her thesis was awarded the Legal Studies Department’s honor of distinction. Prior to joining the firm, she interned with the National Immigrant Justice Center and was a researcher for Northwestern University’s Center for Forced Migration Studies (CFMS). Ashley is proficient in French.