Monica Oca Howell

Monica Oca Howell is a Senior Immigration Attorney who has specialized in humanitarian and family-based immigration law for over eleven years. Prior to joining Stouffer Law, Monica served as the Supervising Attorney for the Attorney of the Day (“AOD”) Program, housed within the Justice & Diversity Center of the Bar Association of San Francisco. As the program’s Supervising Attorney, Monica trained and onboarded volunteer attorneys who provided counsel and limited scope representation to pro se respondents in removal proceedings before the San Francisco Immigration Court. Monica also participated in nationwide efforts to protect the interests of the immigrant community, including advocating against the Dedicated Docket and promoting legislation that would increase access to counsel. Monica is the proud daughter of immigrants from the Philippines. Her mother left her home country in the late 1960s to work as a schoolteacher in Iowa, and was later able to petition her entire family to come to the United States. Monica is inspired every day by the challenges that her mom overcame to live and thrive in the U.S. She is deeply passionate about the practice of immigration law and is dedicated to providing quality legal representation to her clients. Monica is a California native and is fluent in Spanish. Awards and Honors Honors Minority Bar Coalition Unity Award, Northern California Chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, 2024 Fellowship for the Leadership Education for Attorney Development (“LEAD”) Program, sponsored by the California Asian Pacific American Bar Association, 2021

• Senior Attorney
• Languages
• Spanish

• Panelist, Universal Declaration of Human Rights Working Group Roundtable, ABA International Law Section and Paris Bar Association’s Celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 2023
• Panelist, Friend of Court Programs and Limited Scope Representation in Immigration Court, American Immigration Lawyers Association’s Annual Conference, 2024

• California
• U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit
• U.S. District Court Northern District of California
• U.S. District Court Eastern District of California
• U.S. District Court Central District of California

• Minority Bar Coalition Board of Directors Co-Chair
• Filipino Bar Association of Northern California
• University of San Francisco School of Law Board of Governors
• Member of American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), National, Co-Director of AILA’s Asian Interest Group
• Member of American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) Co-Liaison, 2022-Present
• Member of American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), Justice & Diversity Center Co-Liaison, 2020-2022
• Member of American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), New Members Division Co-Coordinator, 2016-2018