Of Counsel
The Law Office of Tala A. Woods is pleased to be Of Counsel with Maria Aguila, Susan Pai and Paul Consbruck.
Maria Aguila
Maria Aguila is a licensed member of the Florida Bar, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Jacksonville Bar Association, and is admitted to the U.S. Middle District Court of Florida. She also currently serves as Vice-President of the Jacksonville Asian American Bar Association, is an active member of the Jacksonville Asian American Alliance (JAAA), was a speaker at the annual Jacksonville Asian Leaders Summit and the JAAA Immigration Workshop January 2008, and was awarded the 2008 Mayor’s Asian American Advisory Board Community Service Award.She is a senior contributing immigration law columnist for the Basta Pinoy, a local Filipino American publication, and has conducted several Fair Housing educational seminars for NEFBA, JHRC, real estate agencies, and various non-profit agencies. In 2007, she was an adjunct professor at Florida Coastal School of Law and an adjunct professor in the legal studies program at FCCJ in 2008.
Paul Consbruck
Paul Consbruck, a long-standing member of the Florida and Maryland Bars for over 20 years, is Of Counsel and the referral source for all U.S. adoption and guardianship issues. Mr. Consbruck is licensed to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Mr. Consbruck has extensive experience in both private practice and government service. He graduated from the University of Florida (B.S.), and the College of William & Mary (J.D.) He is a former law clerk to the Chief Judge of Maryland, and is licensed to practice before all Florida and Maryland Courts, the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals (11th Circuit), and the U.S. District Courts of Florida (Northern and Middle Districts).
Mr. Consbruck represents families who have adopted children overseas, helping them obtain recognition of their foreign adoptions (and re-adoptions) in Florida. Knowing the expenses incurred during the international adoption process, he offers his legal assistance to families at reasonable rates. When the recognition of their foreign adoption (and re-adoption) process is complete, families will receive Florida birth certificates for their children, and will have certified copies of the Final Judgment from a Florida Court (important documents for the future). He has also assisted families who have adopted children from “disrupted” adoptions, and helps his clients with wills and estate planning as well.
Since September 2005 alone, he successfully represented more than 600 families in Alachua, Bay, Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Clay, Columbia, Dade, Duval, Escambia, Flagler, Hernando, Hillsborough, Indian River, Jackson, Lake, Lee, Leon, Manatee, Marion, Martin, Monroe, Nassau, Okaloosa, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Santa Rosa, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Sumter, and Volusia Counties, and is currently working with families in other counties throughout the State of Florida.
Countries represented include China, Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Liberia, Morocco, Peru, Russian Federation, South Korea, Suriname, Taiwan, Thailand, Ukraine, and Vietnam.
He is married to Stephanie, and they have one daughter, Casey Mei Ying, adopted from Chongqing, People’s Republic of China, in July of 2005. They have begun the process for a second adoption from China, with a log-in date for their dossier of November 13, 2006.
Susan Pai
Ms. Pai began her career as Deputy Prosecuting Attorney for the State of Washington. She went on to become a Public Defender where she conducted major criminal matters such as second strike life without parole cases. Later, she was recruited by former Presidential Candidate, Patricia Schroeder (D, Colorado) to become the Director of International Copyright Enforcement for the Association of American Publishers. In this capacity, she oversaw and conducted what is still believed to be the largest criminal raid in global publishing history on behalf of American and European book publishers. Attorney Pai went on to become one of the youngest corporate General Counsels in the United States, working with such DC notables as former U.S. Customs Commissioner, the Honorable Carol Hallet; former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and Administrator of the GSA, Ambassador Gerald Carmen; and former Assistant Director of Operations for the CIA, Max Hugel.
Ms. Pai also served as Senior Investigations Manager of Microsoft’s special investigations unit, the Financial Integrity Unit, and is a former member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Ms. Pai is highly experienced in compliance matters at the workplace and ensures her clients are well educated in all visa compliance issues.
Ms. Pai’s many years of service to the public and corporate America in conjunction with her personal experience as a first generation American citizen serve her clients well.
Ms. Pai is a member of the Washington State Bar Association and the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Ms. Pai attended the University of Southern California, the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Louisville, and Nagoya University in Japan.
Ms. Pai has volunteered extensively in the community and has been a featured speaker at anti-fraud training conferences, local schools and law schools. Ms. Pai also provides self-defense instruction. In her spare time, Ms. Pai enjoys spending time with her family and friends, surfing, martial arts, yoga, and firearms training.