Maya Lugasy is a Senior Attorney with Brown Immigration Law and has been with the firm since 2018. She received her Juris Doctorate from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio, and she is admitted to practice law in the State of Ohio. Maya graduated from the Ohio State University with a double major in Middle Eastern Studies and Hebrew, and a minor in Economics. Maya’s undergraduate studies are what put her on the path to a career in immigration law. Her knowledge and understanding of the Middle East have been a valuable resource in her advocacy for immigrants. During her time as Case Law School, Maya sought out any opportunity to gain hands on experience in immigration, which included interning at Catholic Charities Immigration Legal Services, participating in the Immigration Law Clinic under the tutelage of Clinic Professor (and Brown Immigration Law Partner) Aleksandar Cuic, and completing her final semester capstone as a judicial intern at the Cleveland Immigration Court. During her time at the court, Maya worked closely with the Immigration Judges and assisted them with legal research and writing, learned how decisions were written, and had the opportunity to observe hearings and other proceedings in the immigration court.
Since joining Brown, Maya has focused the majority of her practice in removal defense and family-based immigration, and she is currently expanding her practice into federal litigation. Maya is an incredibly passionate advocate and approaches each case with the care and attention it deserves. She is not afraid to explore creative solutions or collaborate with attorneys in related fields that tend to intersect with immigration, such as criminal law. For example, Maya worked with co-counsel from the Kramer Law Clinic at Case Law School and successfully appealed the denial of a client’s post-sentence motion to withdraw a guilty plea because the client’s prior attorney failed to inform him of the immigration consequences of his guilty plea. (State v. Kurdi, 2022-Ohio-4459). This decision is now precedent in the Eleventh Appellate District of Ohio and may potentially help similarly situated immigrants in the future within that jurisdiction.
Maya is also active in local and national bar associations. She has been involved with the Federal Bar Association Immigration Law Section since 2020, when she became a member of the Newer Lawyers Committee, which puts together webinars for attorneys new to immigration law and provides them mentoring from seasoned immigration attorneys in specific areas of immigration law. In 2022, Maya was also appointed to the Governing Board of the FBA Immigration Law Section for a 3-year term. Maya is also the chair of the International Law Section of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association (CMBA) and sits on the board of the Northern District of Ohio Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.
