“Obtaining real results for people with real problems is an addictive achievement,” says Rachel Einbund, and she should know: the very first case this inspiring attorney won involved a lesbian from Gambia who was detained and tortured for holding her girlfriend’s hand in public. Einbund’s practice focuses on immigration and marriage equality law, specifically the areas of asylum, family petitions and deportation litigation. Prior to founding her own firm, she worked in East L.A. at a family-centered immigration firm in the Latino community. This year she returned to New York and hung out her shingle on June 24: the very day New York passed the Marriage Equality Act. “One of my favorite new cases involves a transman who is married to a U.S. citizen. Since his is not a same-sex marriage, he will be able to obtain his green card through the same process as any other heterosexual applicant,” Einbund says. “It’s an amazing achievement for trans equality.” When not at the office, Einbund is an avid yoga practitioner and mentor to many like-minded colleagues; Einbund’s closest friends call her the “Law Yogi.” Her advice to aspiring lesbian entrepreneurs: “Trust your intuition, take bold risks, stay focused on your goals and embrace it!”
