Inna Simakovsky | Columbus Immigration Lawyer

Inna Simakovsky is uniquely positioned to understand the plight that so many immigrants face because she too was once a refugee.  In 1976, Simakovsky and her parents emigrated from the former Soviet Union, fleeing the persecution and discrimination Jews were experiencing under Communist rule. As one of the first waves of Soviet Jews to leave, the family was fortunate to get out before the iron curtain fell.  Still, the experience of leaving one’s home and family, possibly forever, was traumatic. It would be another 15 years before her mother’s entire family could join them.

The family spent five months in Italy waiting for their documents to be processed. They were then adopted by a Jewish family in Louisville, Kentucky, arriving with just a suitcase and a hundred dollars. A year later they were settled in Columbus, Ohio where Simakovsky’s mother had traced some old family ties. Simakovsky entered the first-grade speaking little to no English.

In 1993, Inna graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in International Studies. She graduated with a Juris Doctorate from the Mortiz College of Law at Ohio State University in 1998 and was admitted to the Washington State Bar. Simakovsky practiced law in Washington state and California. Her work with the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) in San Francisco, providing humanitarian aid and assistance to Jewish refugees, was the spark that fueled her lifelong commitment to support and represent immigrants.

Simakovsky returned to Columbus in 2004 and for the next three years she supervised the largest non-profit immigration services provider in Columbus. Under her direction, the department increased its funding through local and national grants as well as private funding and implemented a law student internship program that included ten law students in the summer of 2006. Inna also started immigration programs at the Economic and Community Development Institute in Columbus, Ohio and Asian Services in Action in Cleveland, Ohio.

From 2007 through 2011, Simakovsky was of counsel with Peterson, Ellis, Fergus and Peer, practicing solely in the area of immigration law.

Simakovsky is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Washington State Bar Association. She is also admitted to practice before all federal immigration courts and before the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Simakovsky Law, the firm she founded in 2008 represents clients before Immigration, the asylum office, and in Immigration Court. The practice focuses on all areas of immigration including family based, removal and business immigration. Simakovsky is currently very involved with immigrant communities in the Central Ohio area and resides in Bexley, Ohio with her husband and three sons.

Position	Organization	Location	Duration
Founding Attorney	Simakovsky Law, LLC	Columbus, OH	Present

School	Degree	Major	Graduation
Michael E. Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University	J.D.	Law School	1998
University of Cincinnati	Bachelors		1993

State / Court	Date
Washington	1998

• Member | American Immigration Lawyers Association
  Member | Washington State Bar Association

• Simakovsky’s dedication to the immigrant community expands well beyond her legal practice. She is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), the oldest international migration and refugee resettlement agency in the U.S.  She is also a past member of the advisory board of Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC), a national immigrant advocacy organization located in Washington D.C. Regionally, Ms. Simakovsky is a past member of the Ohio Literacy Network and is a renowned and sought-after expert and speaker on immigration topics across the country.

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