Shama Merchant Poonja

Bio

As a first-generation American, Ms. Poonja is particularly committed to the field of immigration law. Since 2013, Ms. Poonja has been representing corporate and individual clients on a wide variety of business and family immigration law matters. Ms. Poonja has filed numerous nonimmigrant and immigrant visa petitions, including but not limited to, H-1B, TN, O-1, L-1A, L-1B, Outstanding Researcher petitions, Extraordinary Ability Petitions, and many more. Ms. Poonja has been fortunate enough to be under the mentorship of Mr. Fleischut since 2017 and has absorbed the decades of knowledge Mr. Fleischut has on the field.

Ms. Poonja represents various corporate clients worldwide ranging from Fortune 500 companies to start-ups in a variety of industries. Ms. Poonja deeply understands the impact that immigrants have in making our country extraordinary, and also the impact on our economy. During law school, Ms. Poonja was a Legal Advocate at the Katharine and George Alexander Community Law Center where she helped community members with various immigration law matters including U-Visas and VAWA petitions. She also served as the Vice-President and then the President of the South Asian Law Students Association. Ms. Poonja also gained further legal experience while working at the American Civil Liberties Union and the Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office. Ms. Poonja earned both her Bachelor of Commerce Degree and Juris Doctorate Degree at Santa Clara University. She is in good standing with the State Bar of California and is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Ms. Poonja is fluent in Urdu and Hindi.

In her free time, Ms. Poonja enjoys attempting to recreate her mother’s delicious Indian recipes.