Our Team

Genevra is The Clinic’s attorney and a fearless litigator in Immigration Court. She grew up in North Carolina, and graduated with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2005 and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. After spending three years working in New York City as a paralegal and traveling, Genevra attended law school at Washington University in St. Louis, from which she graduated cum laude in May 2011.

Even before graduating, Genevra was able to obtain experience in immigration law, working for an immigration firm in St. Louis, Missouri, and later interning for the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) in Brussels, Belgium.

Genevra moved to Kansas City in August 2011. She initially began working for Sharma-Crawford Attorneys at Law, and then transitioned to The Clinic when it opened in January 2012. She focuses her practice on representing low-income noncitizens facing removal proceedings in the Kansas City Immigration Court, and has worked on a wide array of complex and nuanced immigration cases. She also regularly presents on a variety of immigration-related topics at national and local immigration conferences and frequently provides Know Your Rights presentations in the community. She is a contributing author to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Litigation Toolbox, 5th Ed. (2016) and 6th Ed. (2019).

She serves as Chair of the Missouri-Kansas AILA Chapter, and also as one of the Chapter’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) liaisons. She won her Chapter’s Pro Bono Champion Award in 2020 and 2022, and has been selected as a Super Lawyers Rising Star every year since 2019. Genevra is licensed to practice law in Missouri and Kansas, and is also admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States and the Federal Appeals Court for the Eighth Circuit.

Jennifer was born and raised in Kansas City and joined The Clinic in 2014 and is its only paralegal. The Clinic has become Jennifer’s passion, and her energy and enthusiasm for helping indigent clients facing removal proceedings is a force to be reckoned with. In 2016, inspired by so many of The Clinic’s clients and wanting a better future for herself, Jennifer worked to graduate high school. She spends her free time caring for her three children and her family. Although Jennifer was born in the United States, the majority of her family is from Durango, Mexico. Jennifer is fluent in both Spanish and English.

Rekha is the President of The Clinic’s Board and a passionate advocate for immigration rights as it applies to the fair application of the law. With broad experiences as an assistant district attorney and practicing attorney, Rekha is a frequent speaker and lecturer on matters of immigration law. Representing clients whose cases garnered high-profile media attention, Rekha has the ability to articulate the law and its implications to all audiences.

Rekha received her Juris Doctorate from Michigan State University College of Law in 1993. She has been an assistant district attorney in Sedgwick County, KS and in Douglas County, KS. Rekha is licensed to practice law in the states of Kansas, Texas, and Michigan, and has been practicing in the immigration litigation field since 2000. She is admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court, District of Kansas, Western District of Missouri, and the Federal Appeals Courts for the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuits. Rekha is also a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Texas Bar Association, Kansas Bar Association, and Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association.

Rekha is a respected and published contributor for legal journals and other publications. Her expertise in immigration law is sought out by clients and colleagues in the legal field, from judges and immigration officials to lawmakers. Rekha is a frequent speaker at the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association (AILA) national conference. She was also the Editor-in-Chief of The AILA Litigation Toolbox, a hands-on approach to litigating immigration issues, and a contributing author for the AILA Waiver’s Book. In 2023, Rekha became the first ever South Asian American to be elected to AILA’s Executive Committee as Secretary. She had previously served on various other National Committees for AILA and was an Elected Director for the AILA Board of Governors, 2019-2023. Rekha is also a member of the Board for the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild starting in 2020. Finally, she is an Adjunct Professor teaching Immigration Law at the University of Kansas School of Law and Washburn University School of Law.

In 2022, Rekha authored a children’s book Aaliyah The Brave, Empowering Children Coping with Immigration Enforcement. The book was designed as a resource for parents, teachers, social workers, advocates, and lawyers. It helps readers understand the impact immigration enforcement can have on children and what emotions children may feel in the aftermath. The book is available, in English and Spanish, at rekhasharmacrawford.com. All of the proceeds from the sale of the book are donated to The Clinic and The National Immigration Litigation Alliance.

Michael is the Treasurer of The Clinic’s Board and is an aggressive litigator and compassionate advocate of fairness in immigration law. As a former law enforcement officer, Michael has a deeper understanding of the challenges of immigration law enforcement, detainment issues and litigation. Michael frequently handles complex immigration proceedings where current statutes require greater experience and understanding.

Michael received his Juris Doctorate from Washburn University in 2002. The practice of law, while a second career, was not far from his beginnings as a law enforcement officer. Michael “served and protected” the citizens of Sedgwick County, Kansas for 15 years before he went on to fulfill his dream of becoming a member of the Bar. He is admitted to the District of Kansas, to the Federal Appeals Court for the Second, Seventh, Eighth and Tenth Circuits, and to the Supreme Court of the United States. Michael also serves on the Board of Directors for Kansas Legal Services. His past service includes the Advisory Committee for the ABA Commission on Immigration and as a member of the USCIS Field Operations Liaison Committee for AILA.