About Nora 

Nora is the founder of the Law Office of Nora E. Phillips, APC, in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, incorporated in 2022. She has been practicing immigration law continuously since 2007 and is licensed to practice law in Illinois. Nora is a 2007 graduate of the DePaul University College of Law. Nora's practice focuses on immigration remedies for survivors of violence, disabled immigrants, and individuals who have been deported from the United States. 

Prior to starting her own practice, Nora co-founded Al Otro Lado, a binational legal services organization, in 2011. Nora served as Legal Director from 2011-2022. While at Al Otro Lado, Nora ran the Deportee Program the Healthcare-Legal Partnership while co-supervising the Case Management Program for holistic client advocacy. Nora firmly believes that legal well-being is a critical component of physical and psychological health and she excels at medically complex cases like disability-based asylum, naturalization medical waivers, and emergency visas for organ transplants. Nora has a deep understanding of the health care system by both study and personal experience. Nora has trained across professions extensively on U Visas; VAWA Self-Petitions; DACA; post-deportation relief; intersection of immigration law and public benefits; trauma-informed practice; healthcare-legal partnerships for immigrant and refugee patients; vicarious trauma treatment and prevention; and multidisciplinary practice. 

Prior to Al Otro Lado, Nora co-founded Phillips & Urias, LLP, a community immigration law firm in East Los Angeles. Prior to Phillips & Urias, LLP, Nora was a Staff Attorney at the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) in Los Angeles where she managed a high volume of U Visa, and VAWAs and ran the DACA program from 2012-2014. Prior to CARECEN, Nora was an Equal Justice Works Fellow at Legal Aid Chicago. Prior to law school, Nora worked taught elementary school and worked with terminally ill adults. She was born and raised in Wisconsin but calls the east side of Los Angeles her home. Nora is fluent in Spanish, French, and English. Nora has received the following awards: National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild Annual Award, 2019; National Lawyers Guild Los Angeles Chapter Annual Award, 2019; East Los Angeles Women’s Center Mujer de Paz Award, 2019; YWCA San Gabriel Valley Racial Justice Award, 2018; Michael Maggio Memorial Pro Bono Award, American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), 2018; Child 10 Award, The Sophie Stenbeck Family Foundation (Malmo, Sweden), 2018; and Courageous Luminaries Award presented by the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), 2018.