Cristina R. D’Amato, Attorney at Law

I am happy to be working as an Associate at the Law Office of Eric M. Mark. I have been working here since January 2017, before I graduated law school. I graduated from Rutgers Law School, Cum Laude, in May 2017. I was awarded the Helen Levine Cohen Award for my advocacy work with the LGBTQ community during my time at Rutgers.

While at Rutgers Law, I was selected to be the Immigrant Rights Fellow, working to organize social and legal events to service the Immigrant community. As a fellow I was able to work for the Immigrant Rights Clinic as a Clinical Associate where I represented a married couple in their Affirmative Asylum case. I am happy to say that both of my clients were granted asylum for their own separate claims. During my time in the clinic, I gained an enormous amount of experience in successfully preparing a very strong asylum case. I continue to use that knowledge and apply it to my work as a licensed attorney.

During my time as a law student, I worked for various organizations. I spent my second summer at American Friends Service Committee, working in the Immigrant Rights Program. I provided help to immigrants of all ages, for Asylum, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), and even partaking in political advocacy in Washington D.C.

Not only did I work within immigration law as a law student, but I worked in the criminal field as well. During my second year of law school I interned with the District Attorney’s office of New York County in the Rackets Bureau prosecuting organized crime. I also worked for the Waterfront Commission of NY Harbor, prosecuting organized crime and substance abuse on the ports of Newark, Elizabeth, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. I gained prosecutorial experience that has helped my work in criminal defense.

I have a B.A. Degree in International Studies and Italian Linguistics from The College of New Jersey, Class of 2011. I am fluent in Italian and have a conversational understanding of Spanish. I am currently studying Spanish so that I can better serve my clients.

I have traveled to both Guatemala and Honduras. In Guatemala I spent time with Guatemalan youth who were deported back from the United States to understand the struggles they face. I spent time in Honduras with Habitat for Humanity building homes for Honduran families.

My goal is to not only advocate for my clients but also to understand their struggles so that I can become a better attorney.  My parents are immigrants from Naples, Italy, so as a first generation U.S. citizen, I understand the balance that many immigrant families try to strike between their old lives and new lives. It is my goal to relentlessly fight for your ability to stay and build that life you have dreamed of and protect your constitutional rights in criminal court.

Professional Associations

– American immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)

Admitted to practice in New Jersey.