About Adelante Legal
Carly Stadum-Liang, Esq.
Carly Stadum-Liang, Esq., is the Managing Immigration Attorney at Adelante Legal. Carly has over a decade of experience working as an immigration attorney.
While not an immigrant herself, Carly knows how hard each of her clients has struggled throughout their immigration journey, and is grateful for the trust her clients place in her. She takes that trust seriously and works hard to ensure that each client achieves their immigration goals.
Carly founded Adelante Legal in 2015 after moving to the Bay Area from Washington, DC where she had worked as an immigration attorney at a nonprofit and at a small immigration firm.
Carly earned her law degree and Certificate in Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies at Georgetown Law in Washington, DC. Carly earned her Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies at Concordia College, in Moorhead, MN. Carly speaks Spanish and English.
When Carly is not working, she enjoys spending time with her husband and three boys and running by the water in Alameda where she lives.
The Adelante Legal Team
Let our legal team get to work for you.
Jennifer Rodriguez
Jennifer (Jenny) Rodriguez is the lead paralegal at Adelante Legal. Jenny joined our team in 2019. She has a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Chicana/o Studies from the University of California, Davis. She is the oldest sister in her family and the first in her family to attend to university. Her family is from a small town in Veracruz, Mexico, but she was born and raised in Richmond, CA. As the daughter of immigrants, she knew that she wanted to help other families stay together from a very young age, and she hopes to one day become an immigration attorney.
Jackie Ramos Estrada
Jacqueline (Jackie) Ramos Estrada is a paralegal for Adelante Legal. She joined our team in 2021. Jackie has a bachelor’s degree in Legal Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is the eldest daughter in her family and the first in her family to graduate from university. Jackie’s parents are from Jalisco, Mexico and she lives with her family in Pittsburg, CA. Jackie has seen firsthand how difficult and scary it is to not have legal status in this country and it motivates her to continue helping her community. She loves to help in any way I can and is passionate about the work she does helping our clients. Her dream is to become an Immigration Attorney in order to continue helping her community.
Catarina Mendoza
Catarina (Cathy) Mendoza is a receptionist, administrative assistant, and Maya Mam interpreter at Adelante Legal. Cathy joined our team in 2023 after working for several years at a local immigration nonprofit. She was born in Todo Santos Cuchumatan, Huehuetenango, Guatemala and immigrated to the U.S. when she was eleven years old with her parents. She grew up in Oakland California, and she is part of the Maya Mam community. She graduated from Oakland International High School. Cathy faced many challenges because of her immigration status. Because of these challenges, Cathy says, “That is why it is very important to me to help others and to know that they can count on us to continue supporting them in their legal status.” In her work at Adelante Legal, Cathy says she is “helping the Maya Mam community by being their voice” and is “working hard to achieve all my dreams.”
Elizabeth Martinez Parada
Elizabeth (Eli) Martínez Parada is a legal assistant at Adelante Legal. Eli joined our team in 2022. She works remotely from Boca del Rio, Veracruz, Mexico, but she was born in Mexico City. She comes from a hard working family and has four dogs and a cat. Eli has a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering and has always been passionate about learning about our ecosystems, specifically marine life. She has been inspired to work at Adelante Legal by her relatives who decided to leave Mexico to find better opportunities abroad. Eli knows it is not an easy decision to make, and has great respect for our clients’ courageous decision to leave their homes for new lives in the United States. Eli always tries her best to help our clients. She likes working at Adelante Legal because she believes we are a great team. She says she “feels happy to belong to a responsible, united work team of powerful women!”
I will be forever grateful to Carly Stadum-Liang for having taken my case and working fiercely to get my GREEN CARD. Carly would always call me with updates on my case. She is a person willing to help, she listened to my worries, and I could always communicate with her when I had concerns or questions. She is a responsible attorney that has much knowledge of immigration laws. I recommend her for her integrity, professionalism and as a human being who is willing to help no matter how difficult the situation may seem.
~ A.M.