BORENE - Key Persons
Aly Johnson, Attorney, helps employers, families, and individuals with U.S. immigration projects. Such immigration projects include temporary and permanent visas, green cards, and U.S. citizenship. Ms. Johnson graduated cum laude from the University of St. Thomas School of Law. She graduated magna cum laude from Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, where she double majored in Criminal Justice and Psychology, minored in Sociology, and was a member of the Delta Epsilon Sigma and Psi Chi Honor Societies.
Prior to law school, Ms. Johnson worked as a Victim Advocate and Case Manager at a comprehensive domestic violence agency in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area. There, she saw firsthand the added barriers often imposed upon immigrant victims of violence as they sought to gain access to resources and legal support following their victimization. This experience served as an impetus for Ms. Johnson to pursue a career in immigration law.
While in law school, Ms. Johnson worked as a Certified Law Student Practitioner in the school's immigration clinic, primarily handling naturalization (citizenship) cases. She also worked as a Certified Law Student Practitioner in the Community Justice Project clinic, where she collaborated with community-based partners to advocate on a policy level for housing justice and police reform throughout Minnesota. For her work in both legal clinics, Ms. Johnson was awarded the Clinic Legal Education Association's Outstanding Clinic Student Award.
Before joining Borene Law Firm, Ms. Johnson worked as a law clerk at another Minnesota immigration law firm, where she worked on employment-based immigration projects, including cases involving advanced degree professionals and individuals with extraordinary abilities in the arts, business, and sciences.
Ms. Johnson is authorized by federal law and regulation to represent clients before all U.S. immigration courts and offices worldwide. She is admitted to practice before the Minnesota Supreme Court.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Assistant
- Case Manager
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Lead the Expert
- Member of the Eden Prairie City Heritage Commission
George C. Maxwell, Attorney, concentrates his immigration practice primarily on employment-related and business immigration matters. He is a Member of the Immigration Section Council of the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA), and served as Chair (2012-2013), Vice Chair (2011-2012), Treasurer (2010-2011), and Secretary (2009-2010) of the Minnesota State Bar Association Immigration Section. He is a Past Chair of the International Business Law Section of the Minnesota State Bar Association and Past Chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Minnesota/Dakotas Chapter. Mr. Maxwell was a Board Member of Green Card Voices from 2016-2020. He is a currently a Hennepin County Bar Association Fellow.
George Maxwell has been selected by vote of his peers to be included in Minnesota Monthly‘s list of 2024 Top Lawyers in Minnesota.
George Maxwell is a member of the Eden Prairie City Heritage Commission. He was a Board of Zoning Appeals Commissioner in Golden Valley, Minnesota from 2010 to 2018.
Mr. Maxwell speaks and writes frequently on immigration law topics. He authored Tips and Traps: Managing I-94 Complications, Bench and Bar, 2015, published by the MSBA and The Perils of Traveling for Business When Crossing the U.S. Canadian Border, published in the Bakken Oil Business Journal, 2015. In 2014, he authored Russian Citizens Beware, Bench and Bar, published by MSBA. In 2009, he was co-presenter at the Hennepin County Bar Association - Employment Law Section meeting on Immigration Law for Employment Lawyers. Also, in 2009, he was the author of Looking for World Class Talent? 20,000 U.S. Work Visas Remain for Newly-Hired Professionals, published in Bench and Bar. In 2017, he co-authored President's Travel Ban Heads to the U.S. Supreme Court, Where Executive Order 13780 Has Been and Where it is Going, published in Bench and Bar. Recently,
George Maxwell lead the Expert Immigration Panel on the Topic of Considerations for Building a Global Work Force in 2023 and Beyond at the Minnesota State Bar Association's Annual International Business Law Institute in March, 2023. He was the expert speaker on the topic of Immigration Options for Ukrainians for a Ukrainian Women's Group in May, 2022.
George Maxwell was a speaker on the topic of Overcoming COVID-19 Challenges: Creative Solutions for Nonimmigrant Visa Processing and Global Travel, sponsored by AILA in Chicago, April 2021. He was a speaker at the April 2021 International Business Law Institute's Program Doing Business Across Borders, leading the panel on U.S. and Global Work Visa Options. He was also a speaker on the panel covering Wage Determination and SOC Updates at the annual AILA Upper Midwest Conference in May, 2021. George Maxwell was an invited expert speaker on the topic of Recent Trends in Employment Based Immigration in September, 2019 on a program sponsored by American Immigration Lawyers Association.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Maxwell worked first as an attorney for ExxonMobil Corporation at Exxon's corporate headquarters in Houston, Texas, and then for the Willkie Farr & Gallagher law firm in Washington, D.C. and for the Dorsey & Whitney law firm in Minneapolis. In addition to his extensive experience in immigration law, he has significant experience in international human rights litigation, business litigation, corporate internal investigations, and white collar enforcement and compliance. He has represented clients in matters associated with alleged human rights violations under the Alien Tort Statute, and with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. As an attorney in private practice, he was a member of a team that represented a major U.S. company under investigation for alleged violations of immigration laws. His prior legal work has taken him to Russia, Central Asia, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.
Mr. Maxwell graduated with High Distinction from the University of Iowa Law School. He was a Note and Comment Editor for the Iowa Law School's Transnational and Contemporary Problems Journal. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Northern Iowa, and upon graduation received the Purple and Old Gold Award for Meritorious Scholarship in Russian. In connection with his Bachelor's degree, he studied Russian language at Moscow State Linguistics University in Moscow, Russia in the Fall of 1996 and the Spring of 1997, and at Moscow State University in Moscow, Russia in the Summer of 1998. He speaks both English and Russian.
While in law school, Mr. Maxwell worked in the law school's clinic on asylee, family, and deportation immigration cases, successfully obtaining asylum before an Immigration Judge for one client, and convincing the Immigration Service District Director to exercise favorable discretion to not deport another client. One of Mr. Maxwell's first immigration clients was his wife, whom he met while studying at Moscow State University.
Mr. Maxwell is authorized by federal law and regulation to represent clients before all U.S. immigration courts and offices worldwide. He is admitted to practice before the Minnesota Supreme Court and the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. He is also admitted to the Bar of the District of Columbia, in Washington, DC. He is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA).
Mr. Maxwell is the author of Agent of Mercy: The Untold Story of Dr. Archibald S. Maxwell, Civil War Surgeon and Iowa State Sanitary Agent, 2016.
Job Titles:
- Director of Client Services
- Artist
Penny A. Van Kampen, Director of Client Services, has an extensive background in hospitality, customer service and computer service. She came to the Twin Cities from Wisconsin and is a graduate of the University of Minnesota.
Ms. Van Kampen spent ten years in hospitality management and five years in the computer software industry in quality control and customer service before joining the Borene Law Firm. She has been with the firm since 1992.
Ms. Van Kampen has more than 20 years' experience managing the firm's client services and also manages human resources, IT, accounting, marketing and administrative responsibilities.
Penny Van Kampen is also a contemporary portrait artist.