Kate E. Ruston is an immigration attorney at the Law Offices of Shamieh, Shamieh & Ternieden. Driven by a passion for helping others, Attorney Ruston is a dedicated and compassionate advocate for individuals and families navigating the complex U.S. immigration system. With a client-centered approach, she is committed to ensuring that every client’s voice is heard and that their legal rights are upheld at every stage of their journey.
Attorney Ruston attended the University of Miami School of Law as a Miami Public Interest Scholar. During law school, Attorney Ruston was President of the Human Rights Society, a member of the International Moot Court team, and a volunteer with Exchange for Change, where she helped teach a Legal Writing course to incarcerated women. She also clerked for a business immigration law firm and completed judicial internships in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. After passing the bar exam, Attorney Ruston gained experience advocating for her clients’ rights and freedom as an Assistant Public Defender in Miami-Dade County and then worked at an international immigration law firm.
Attorney Ruston’s interest in immigration law began while she was a Middle Eastern Studies major at Claremont McKenna College. In college, Attorney Ruston studied abroad in Amman, Jordan and interned with organizations that provided assistance to Syrian and Palestinian refugees. Based on those experiences, she wrote her senior thesis about the international community's responsibility to protect civilians in the Syrian Civil War. After graduating college, Attorney Ruston’s love of learning Arabic took her to Cairo, Egypt, where she lived and worked for four years before returning to the U.S. for law school.
As a new resident of San Francisco, Attorney Ruston spends her free time exploring the city with her miniature dachshund named Ramy.
