About Me:

Tala Hartsough is an immigration attorney with over a decade of experience in the immigration law field. She represents and defends individuals who are pursuing naturalization and citizenship claims, family petitions, marriage and fiancee cases, and removal defense before the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration Court, Board of Immigration Appeals, District Court, and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Tala assists victims of crime and domestic violence in applying for Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) self-petitions and U Visas.  She also aids young people applying for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), as well as individuals applying for naturalization, adjustment of status (AOS), and consular processing (with and without waivers of inadmissibility). Tala represents individuals in immigration court who are facing removal or deportation, and children seeking Special Immigrant Juvenile Status. 

Tala is the Past Chair of the Northern California Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA NorCal). She has volunteered with the immigration clinics at Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus (ALC) and The Women's Building in San Francisco. Tala also takes on pro bono cases through Legal Services for Children and ProBAR Children's Project. In 2018, Tala was selected as a Northern California Super Lawyer after recognition for several years as a Rising Star in immigration by the Northern California Super Lawyers Magazine.

Tala graduated magna cum laude from UC Hastings College of the Law in 2003, then joined UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law as an International Human Rights Law Fellow. She was a member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Expedited Removal Study Team, contributing to a congressionally authorized report on the treatment and detention of asylum seekers. Prior to her study of law, Tala worked in Zimbabwe, focusing on the effects of the country’s economic policies on the poor.