Katherine Santamaria Mendez

Kathy is an Associate Attorney at Wilson Law Group and practices immigration law. Kathy graduated from Mitchell Hamline School of Law where she served in many leadership roles including Student Director of the Immigration Law Clinic, Writing Associate for the Journal of Public Policy and Practice, President of both the Immigration Law Student Association and the Latino Law Student Association, and Student Representative for the Minnesota Hispanic Bar Association. She also competed in the Hispanic National Bar Association Uvaldo Herrera Moot Court. Her most memorable experiences during law school were assisting Afghan nationals with expedited processing of their asylum applications, and her extensive involvement with the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota assisting in many humanitarian immigration cases and advocating for the "Driver's License for All" bill.

Before law school, Kathy earned her Bachelor of Arts in Chicano/Latino Studies from the University of Minnesota. During her undergraduate studies, she focused extensively on the history of migration to gain a deeper understanding on the root causes of forced migration. Born in El Salvador to Honduran and Salvadoran parents, Kathy personally knows the complexities of navigating the immigration system. Kathy always strives to use her legal knowledge along with her personal lived experiences as an immigrant to be a zealous advocate for her clients. As a native Spanish speaker, one of her favorite things about working with Spanish speaking clients is learning about different Spanish accents from all over the world.