About Us
Jacqueline Lentini
The Law Office of Jacqueline Lentini, LLC is certified by the State of Illinois Central Management Services as a Women Business Enterprise (WBE), a part of the diversity compliance opportunities within the State. For more information, please see Diversity Compliance.
Jacqueline Lentini focuses her practice on immigration law and compliance, handling all matters of employment-based immigration case management, including Labor Certification (PERM), H-1B, L-1A, L-1B, L-1 Blanket, E-1/E-2, TN, B-1, J-1 and I-140 (EB-1, EB-2, EB-3). She counsels clients on consular processing and Client Adjustment interviews, I-129F petitions, and complex naturalization cases.
Previously, Ms. Lentini gained extensive experience in immigration matters with other Chicago area law firms. Prior to that, she was an Immigration Specialist for World Relief, for which she obtained Board of Immigration Appeals accreditation, filed VAWA petitions, Adjustment of Status and Citizenship applications, with continued involvement volunteering at World Relief sponsored Naturalization workshops.
Prior to her law degree, Ms. Lentini was employed by the University of Houston and Purdue University as a F-1 and J-1 student counselor. She possesses over twenty-three years of combined experience with immigration issues as both an attorney and foreign student advisor. She enjoys working with universities, faculty, staff and students, and has many university clients she serves on an ongoing basis.
Ms. Lentini is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (“AILA”), the Illinois State Bar Association (“ISBA”), and the Kane County Bar Association’s Immigration Committee. Ms. Lentini currently serves on the 2023-2024 AILA Online Course Review Committee. She also served on the AILA Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) Liaison Committee (2019-2022), formerly on the Midwest Regional Conference Planning Committee (2017), as well as the AILA’s National Long Distance Learning Committee (2014-2016) and has been a contributing author to the Illinois Chamber Employee Handbook on an ongoing basis. Previously, she was on the Illinois State Bar Association’s Immigration and International Law Committee from 2002-2003. She has published many immigration-related law articles in local bar journals and has spoken frequently to audiences regarding immigration issues in a variety of industries, including universities, entrepreneurs and manufacturing. Additionally, Ms. Lentini is a member of Provisors in Denver, CO. She is licensed in Illinois and Colorado.
Ms. Lentini obtained her J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law, earned a Master’s in Arts in Italian Studies from Brown University, and a B.A. in International Relations cum laude from Boston University. She is fluent in Italian.
Sharon Winslow
Sharon Winslow brings over 25 years of experience to our law office in her role as an Immigration Paralegal. She has a demonstrated history of working in the academic, medical, research and legal industries. A large portion of her career was spent in the International Students and Scholars Office at Purdue University where she directed the Scholar area of the office. Under her leadership, the Scholar team assisted over 1000 international faculty and staff annually with their visa paperwork to allow their temporary services and employment at Purdue. She has hands-on experience with permanent resident cases (PERM and EB-1 cases), as well as nonimmigrant visas ranging from F-1 students, J-1 exchange visitors, to H-1B employees. She has continued to learn and expand her visa repertoire with P’s, L’s and E’s with my firm.
Other immigration experience includes time spent at Baylor College of Medicine learning the idiosyncrasies of the medical field as well as a stint at Argonne National Laboratory, a not-for-profit government laboratory. Each of these positions has shaped and expanded Sharon’s immigration knowledge and experience.
Time overseas has also played a key role in her experiential understanding of immigration worldwide. She has lived in Uganda, East Africa as well as traveled to numerous other countries in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. It is one thing to work with internationals here in the U.S. but it is another to actually be a foreigner having to navigate the cultural, social and legal systems of another country.
Grace Mladenik
Grace Mladenik is committed to service and efficiency in her role as Legal Assistant to the Law Office of Jacqueline Lentini LLC. She is a quick learner, knowledgeable team player, and creative problem solver. Grace is ready to take on the challenges that immigration law brings through research and critical thinking.
Prior to joining the practice, Grace interned at the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in Washington DC where she met with various diaspora groups, organized Congressional hearings and briefings, and gained a worldwide perspective on a multitude of global issues. Grace has also worked in two different Congressional district offices where she assisted in the communication between constituents and Congressional caseworkers, a DC-based policy-focused nonprofit where she handled a large scale policy research project and day-to-day office operations, and most recently helped support literacy interventionists in education.
Grace also has personal ties to immigration being an immigrant herself, aside from her professional interests in immigration. She was adopted from China and soon after became a citizen after arriving in the U.S. at a very early age. She has since been back to China four times, two for the adoption of her younger sisters and most recently in 2019. Grace continues to be active in the international transracial adoptee community through local meet-ups and online engagements.
Graduating a year early, Grace obtained her Bachelor’s of Science in Agricultural Consumer Economics with a concentration in Public Policy and Law and minored in Sociology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is also currently enrolled in the Post-Baccalaureate Paralegal Program at Roosevelt University and will complete the degree in Spring of 2024.
Presentations
Jacqueline, “Jacki”, is passionate about helping people and businesses achieve their immigration goals. Drawing from years of experience and up-to-date immigration knowledge, she assists companies, institutions and individuals with timely solutions for their complex immigration needs.
With tailor-made presentations, Jacki seeks to educate and inform companies and individuals about the ever changing landscape of U.S. immigration laws and policies and its impact. Jacki is available to share her expertise in employment based immigration through a customized presentation to benefit your company/institution. Please call our office to arrange a presentation for your institution/company.
“Overview of U.S. Immigration: What You Need to Know For Your Business to be up to Speed”
Presented to members of Executive Forums, July 11th, 2019.
“Temporary and Long Term Employment Options for International Students”
Presented to the students of Judson University by Jacqueline (Attorney) and Sharon (Paralegal), followed by a Q & A session.
F-1 Students and Employment Workshop
Presented to the students of Wheaton College by Jacki, in November 2018.
Testimonials
Jacki is an outstanding Immigration Law Attorney. My Fermilab legal staff and I were fortunate to have Jacki as our Outside Legal Counsel for Immigration matters for many years, prior to my retirement. Immigration Law is an important component of the Fermilab Legal mission as many researchers and Visiting Scientists are at Fermilab on Visa status. Jacki’s focused efforts navigated the difficult path to Visas and even Citizenship for many of our researchers and scientists.
Bottom Line — Jacki is the best Immigration Law Attorney I worked with during my 30 year plus practice of Law.
Gary Leonard – General Counsel (retired) , Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab)
What a joy/relief/pleasure to have your assistance through the stressful green card process. We truly valued how quickly you responded to us, how easy you made it for us to understand our next steps and how you held our hands through the process! Thank you.
Catherine C. – ranking all questions 5 out of 5