Ted Farrell

502-708-4540 Send e-mail

Ted Farrell is an immigration attorney licensed in the state of Kentucky.  He is also admitted to practice before the Western District of Kentucky and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Ted graduated from Dartmouth College, earned a Ph.D. in English and American Literature at the University of Virginia, and later earned a JD from the University of Louisville. 

Ted taught for many years at Hanover College in Indiana, where he also served as Director of International Programs, before beginning his immigration law practice in 2010.  Ted represents clients in a wide range of immigration matters, including university students, faculty, and staff; employment visas for technical specialists; investor visas; family-based immigration; immigrant visas; naturalization; removal defense in Immigration Court; and visas for crime victims.  Ted has represented clients before USCIS, the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO), the Immigration Court (EOIR), the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), the US Department of State, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and in Kentucky state courts.  He speaks English, French, and Spanish.

Ted enjoys hanging around with his two kids, running, sailing, riding his bike to work every day, and salsa dancing when he can.

Duffy Trager

502-587-8431     Send e-mail

Duffy B. Trager is an immigration attorney licensed in the state of Kentucky. He earned a Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Louisville School of Law and a BA in International Relations and Religious Studies from Western Kentucky University.

Duffy became interested in immigration law as a participant in the University of Louisville Immigration Law Clinic. His experience enabled him to win the New York University Law School’s Immigration Moot Court Competition where he argued before three federal circuit court of appeals judges. More recently, he spent several months in Central America working with the Human Rights Commission of Belize, teaching low-income children in Guatemala and traveling widely throughout the region. Through these experiences he has committed himself to assisting individuals in navigating the complex immigration system.

While in law school Duffy won the Pirtle-Washer Oral Advocacy Competition—the University of Louisville’s oldest and most prestigious moot court. He competed in the National Moot Court Competition at the Fourth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, was a Marshall-Brennan and an IOLTA Fellow, President of the International Law Society, published editor of the Journal of Law and Education and he received the Robert C. Jayes Memorial Award for Humanitarian and Civic Involvement.

Duffy practiced criminal defense for nearly three years as a Louisville Metro Public Defender. He litigated over 2000 misdemeanors and felonies including several homicides. He achieved multiple acquittals through jury verdict and received the Walker Award for excellence in a felony jury trial where the client faced up to life in prison if convicted. He regularly consulted with clients about the immigration consequences of criminal convictions. He speaks English and Spanish.  

Rachel A. Mendoza-Newton

502-587-7797     Send e-mail  

A Louisville, KY native, Ms. Mendoza-Newton obtained her BA at Smith College in Northampton, MA.  Before law school, she volunteered full-time for a year at Casa Marianella, a shelter for Latin American refugees and the Spanish-speaking homeless in Austin, TX. She earned her JD in 1997 at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, MA.

Ms. Mendoza-Newton is fluent in Spanish.  She practiced immigration law at Proyecto Libertad in Harlingen, TX, the International Institute of Buffalo in NY, and Ahmad Law Office in Lexington, KY, before joining RILF in December 2008. She also defended immigrants from criminal charges in her work with the New Mexico Public Defender’s Office.

A member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and various immigrant rights advocacy groups, Ms. Mendoza-Newton has been interviewed about immigration issues by multiple Kentucky media outlets. She has fiercely advocated for immigrant and refugee rights for many years, most notably in the defeat of SB6, the Kentucky bill that would have been the equivalent of Arizona’s infamous anti-immigrant law.  Her practice focuses primarily on U visas (for crime victims), family-based immigration, naturalization, asylum, and defending immigrants in the Immigration Court. Ms. Mendoza-Newton particularly enjoys helping abused, victimized, or oppressed people to take back power over their own lives, and deeply values the privilege of watching them flower into strength and independence as their cases move forward.