About Natallie
Natallie Santana built a career that crosses borders, languages and legal specialties. She came to law after studying political science and Latin American and Latino studies at Fordham University. She earned her J.D. from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Puerto Rico in 2009 and later completed an LL.M. in Bankruptcy Law at St. John s University School of Law.
Santana’s educational path set up an uncommon combination: grounding in Puerto Rican law and community issues, paired with postgraduate training in bankruptcy. That mix shows in the types of professional associations she joined early in her career. She has been a member of the Colegio de Abogados de Puerto Rico since 2010. She also joined the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s Bedford Hills Program in 2015 and holds membership in the CIS Asylum Office Committee beginning in 2018.
Those memberships reflect steady involvement in immigration practice and asylum matters. Colleagues describe Santana as methodical in preparing cases and attentive to procedural detail. Her training in bankruptcy law provides an added layer when clients face financial upheaval alongside immigration or family law matters.
Santana’s work has unfolded in Puerto Rico. She has practiced at Cipolla Law Group, which lists offices she has been associated with. Her presence there ties back to the island’s bilingual and bicultural needs, where legal matters often require fluency in both Spanish and English and an understanding of local institutions.
In the office, Santana is known for pragmatic case management. She breaks complex files into discrete tasks and keeps clients informed about next steps and timelines. The asylum work she engages in can involve detailed country condition reports, witness preparation and live interviews with government adjudicators. The bankruptcy coursework and LL.M. study give her a clearer view of clients’ options when debt, business failure or restructuring intersect with immigration status.
Outside casework, Santana remains connected to professional networks. Her ongoing memberships in immigration-focused groups and the Puerto Rican bar association keep her in conversations about policy shifts and procedural changes. That engagement helps her anticipate administrative developments that could affect filings and hearings.
Santana’s background — a Fordham undergraduate degree, a 2009 J.D. from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Puerto Rico and an LL.M. from St. John s — maps onto the work she does now. She currently practices at Cipolla Law Group in Puerto Rico, where her practice concentrates on immigration matters and bankruptcy-related issues.
