George R. Willy
Mr. Willy is the founder and principal of George R. Willy, P.C. Over the last twenty-five years, Mr. Willy has built the Houston-based firm from a single attorney practice to a bustling five-attorney firm with a presence in Atlanta, Georgia, Montreal, Canada and Hyderabad, India. Mr. Willy combines a thorough knowledge of immigration law with a unique perspective. As an immigrant himself, nearly thirty-five years ago, he has never forgotten the uncertainty and the difficulties of the process. His personal mission is to make immigration equitable for everyone. To that end, he has frequently been involved in the push for immigration reform and in ensuring that policy makers are aware of the needs and positive qualities of the immigrant community. Since his arrival more than two decades ago, Mr. Willy has been a leading member of Houston society and has been particularly involved in the local South Asian community.
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Zaheer Zaidi
Mr. Zaidi is an experienced Immigration attorney with more than 13 years of practice in Immigration and Nationality Law. He possesses extensive knowledge of immigration law and his diverse range of experience spans from non-immigrant petitions to naturalization applications, with various applications and petitions in between. While he is an accomplished deportation defense attorney having handled hundreds of matters in immigration court, he has also filed numerous employment and family based immigration petitions. Prior to joining GRWPC, Mr. Zaidi ran his own successful law practice in San Jose, California.
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Javier Rivera
Originally from El Paso, Mr. Rivera was raised in Houston, graduating from St. Pius X High School in North Houston before attending Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, Texas, where he majored in both Sociology and History. After spending two years as a social worker for the Alief School District, Mr. Rivera attended Florida Coastal School of Law, were he earned his law degree. During his last semester of law school, he served as a legal clinician for the Office of the Attorney General of the Bahamas in Nassau. Following completion of his law degree, Mr. Rivera attended the University of Houston and graduated with a Legal Masters in International Law. Prior to working for GRWPC, Mr. Rivera has worked for several years in immigration law firms in both Houston and San Antonio, practicing  in the areas of removal defense and employment-based immigration.
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Pauline Appelbaum
Mrs. Appelbaum began her immigration career as a litigation attorney with legacy INS through the Attorney General's Honors Program. She served as Special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Texas and was promoted to Associate Regional Counsel for USCIS when the agency was formed. She recently retired from that position after more than 20 years in immigration law.

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Kamran I. Makhdoom
Mr. Makhdoom has almost fourteen years of legal experience and has spent the last four years focusing on U.S. immigration law. He has had considerable E-2 experience during his time with the firm's Pakistan division, while also handling all the other immigration-related issues at the firm's Pakistan office. He spent his early days in Kuwait where he learnt Hindi and Arabic. He was a practicing attorney in Pakistan and has appeared in various High Courts, Service Tribunals, Labor Courts, and other Administrative Courts in Pakistan. Mr. Makhdoom has also taught several law courses to the LL.B. classes in three different law schools in Pakistan. He has been an active member of the High Court Bar Association, Multan and the District Bar Association, Multan, Pakistan. He has also been an active human rights activist, a member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Amnesty International in Pakistan and has represented the underprivileged, widows and the orphans on a pro bono basis. He earned his Master's in Law Degree from the University of Houston Law Center as a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar. Mr. Makhdoom understands the difficulties faced by immigrants and assists them in paving their path as swiftly and easily as possible.
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Michael H. Azad
Mr. Azad, B.B.A., M.B.A., J.D., L.L.M. (Tax) has many years of experience as an estate and tax attorney, Adjunct Professor of Tax and Business Law at San Jacinto College, and is a former estate tax attorney with the Internal Revenue Service. He has an extensive professional background in the areas of medical risk management, asset protection planning, foreign business and estate planning. Mr. Azad is a member of the State Bar of Texas and the American Bar Association. He is certified in Estate Planning and Probate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of Texas. He is also rated AV by Martindale-Hubbell which is the highest rating awarded to attorneys in the United States.
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Steven D. Shellist
Mr. Shellist is a founding partner of Capitaine, Shellist, Warren and McAlister, L.L.P. He only accepts criminal cases. Specifically, he takes on a limited number of clients - those who wish to fight the government to the fullest extent. He has defended all types and levels of criminal offenses ranging from DWIs (Driving While Intoxicated) to Capital Murders. He has handled State and Federal cases involving seven-figure healthcare fraud indictments. And, he has represented clients charged with the possession and/or trafficking of multi-kilos of cocaine. It does not matter what type of case someone is charged with if jail time is a possibility, Mr. Shellist will defend that person to the fullest extent.
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Marcos Gemoets
Mr. Gemoets has more than ten years of experience representing immigration clients throughout the United States, including immigrant families, U.S.- and foreign-based corporate clients and foreign citizens facing removal from the United States. He began his immigration career in private practice prior to serving for several years as the Director of Legal Services for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of San Antonio. Following his work with immigrants in Texas, and having witnessed first-hand the need for improved immigration laws, Mr. Gemoets worked as an advocate for comprehensive immigration reform in Washington D.C. After Congress failed to establish a comprehensive immigration program, he returned to practicing law, where he continues to work on behalf of immigrants seeking a better life in the United States.
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In addition to experienced attorneys, George R. Willy, P.C. has approximately 11 experienced immigration professionals, all of whom are university graduates and two of who have advanced degrees. The attorneys and staff of George R. Willy, P.C. are collectively fluent in over a dozen languages, including Spanish, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, Punjabi, Vietnamese, German, Singhalese, Farsi, Bengali, Pushto, and 5 additional Indian languages.