Meet Our Team
The Kain Immigration team has a passion for making the U.S. a welcoming place for immigrants. We help them navigate the U.S. immigration laws, and we are committed to delivering strong advocacy for our clients, no matter how complex the path may be.
Jeannie has been working in immigration law since 1998. She has always been fascinated by cross-cultural relations, and is committed to making justice accessible to all immigrants. She has practiced immigration law in a variety of settings as a lawyer since 2004, has served as Chair of the New England Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), and is conversant in Spanish.
Founding Attorney and OwnerErin Shaughnessy Smith
Associate Attorney
Originally from southeast Michigan, Erin earned her B.A. from Kalamazoo College where she studied political science and Spanish. She discovered a passion for immigration law while working as a paralegal, focusing on family-based immigration and inadmissibility waivers. This experience inspired her to pursue a legal career, and she went on to earn her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law. During law school, Erin gained experience across multiple areas of law, including humanitarian immigration, housing, and welfare law. She has spent time in both Chile and Spain and speaks Spanish with professional proficiency.
Legal Assistant
Laszlo Bernstein
Laszlo grew up in Framingham, MA as a student in the K-12 Spanish/English Dual Language Bilingual Education program, where he gained a foundational appreciation for linguistic and cultural diversity. He is fluent in Spanish. He earned his Bachelor's in Sociology and Spanish from Colby College, while also completing some of his undergraduate studies abroad in Córdoba, Spain. In his internship at the International Institute of New England, Laszlo broadened his understanding of humanitarian immigration legal processes. In his current position as Legal Assistant at Kain Immigration, he is pursuing his interests in the immigration legal field and his desire to serve the immigrant communities that formed such an integral part of his educational experiences.