Hines & Associates, PLLC was founded by attorney Claudia Hines. Miss Hines was born in Bogota, Colombia. She subsequently immigrated to the United States in 1978, and became a naturalized U.S. Citizen in 1981. She speaks English, Spanish and has formally studied Greek, Arabic & Italian. Miss Hines attended grade school and middle school in Michigan, and high school in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Criminal Justice from the University of Toledo in 1995 and earned her Juris Doctor in 1999 from Toledo College of Law in Toledo, Ohio. After graduating from Law School Miss Hines worked for the City of Toledo, Ohio Prosecutor’s Office where she focused on domestic abuse cases. She subsequently left criminal law and began working for Butzel Long in Detroit, Michigan where she focused on Corporate Transactions & Immigration Law.
In 2001 Miss Hines accepted a recess appointment as Legal Counsel with the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) in Washington, DC. While at the USITC, Miss Hines worked extensively on various trade issues involving the U.S. and Italy, Chile, Colombia, Germany, Canada, Japan, China and France, among others, aiding in injury determinations and the imposition of anti-dumping & counterveiling duties. She also took part in the Steel Section 201 Safeguard investigation, which was initiated at the request of the White House by strong urging from the United Steelworkers of America in June of 2001. The decision was rendered on October 22, 2001 after 96 hours of hearings that included testimony from more than 70 members of congress, 35 steel company chief executives, representatives of importers & exporters and a number of lawyers (including over 100 law firms) and economist. After fulfilling her recess appointment with the USITC, Miss Hines remained in the Washington, DC area and entered private practice.
Miss Hines founded Hines & Associates, PLLC because she wanted to practice law the “old fashion way when a lawyer knew their clients well and actually did the work they were getting paid to do rather than delegate that work to a non-lawyer. I want clients to feel they can call the office and speak directly with their attorney about their case without worrying they are being billed for every word that comes out of their lawyer’s mouth. Hines & Associates, PLLC has instituted fixed fees for a number of legal services to small businesses in efforts to make regular legal counsel affordable. “I believe every business, no matter how small, should be able to afford legal counsel & involve such counsel in everyday transactions such as labor/employment issues & tax matters, etc.”
Today, Miss Hines works primarily in the areas of Corporate and Business Transactions, Estate Planning and Immigration law. Miss Hines is an expert in Latin American corporate transactions and represents domestic and foreign companies in commercial transactions in countries like Colombia. She also advises clients on all matters dealing with immigration law, including acquisition of foreign labor, acquisition of green card through U.S. investment (Investor Visas), Treaty Traders & Treaty Investors, immigration through a family member and employer labor certification, among others.