Attorney Profile
- Attorney Profile
About Marlen Santana Perez
Marlen is a native of Cuba. Before her legal career in the United States, and after she graduated with a Law Degree at Universidad Central in Villa Clara, Cuba, she was an Attorney in Remedios, Cuba, where she practiced Civil and Criminal Law. In 1998, Marlen left for Venezuela with her four-year-old daughter, Beatriz. In 1999, she arrived in the United States through the U.S. border with Mexico as an immigrant with nothing but dreams. She was determined and always valued the unlimited possibilities this country offered her and her family. During her first years, she worked as a house cleaner, a factory worker, an administrator assistant, and an interpreter for refugees. Marlen has been married to the father of her two children since 1992; her daughter is a Law student at Stetson University in Central Florida; her son graduated with a Finance degree from Florida International University.
I Believe the Art of Success is Largely the Art of Persistence
Award
Marlen received the 2006 Public Welfare Award at UTK
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After years of study and hard work, Marlen enrolled in the Master of Social Work Program at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville (UTK). Marlen graduated Summa Cum Laude from UTK with a Master of Sciences in Social Work (MSSW). She received the 2006 Rhoda O’Meara Public Welfare Award from the UT College of Social Work. After graduation, Marlen worked as a therapist at Saint Thomas Health Services, providing counseling and social services to immigrant families. After years of supervision and completing a national exam, Marlen received her License in Clinical Social Work. Currently, she is a licensed therapist in Florida and Tennessee. The social worker career provided the personal and professional fulfillment Marlen wanted. Still, she saw herself limited in the type of assistance she wanted to offer to others like her who were disadvantaged. Essentially, she wanted to offer assistance beyond mental health. Thus, the legal profession well suited her goals and prior experience as a lawyer in Cuba.
Juris Doctorate at Nashville School of Law
Marlen went to Law School while working as a Full-Time Therapist
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In 2010, Marlen attended Nashville School of Law at night while working as a social worker and legal assistant during the day. Marlen earned her Juris Doctorate at Nashville School of Law in 2014. After graduation from law school, she founded Tucasa Mental Health, a private mental health practice in Antioch, TN, providing counseling services to individuals and families with a variety of mental issues and conducting psychological assessments for victims of abuse and trauma for immigration purposes and the federal court system.
Legal Status in USA
Marlen struggled to obtain Legal Status in the U.S.
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After passing the BAR exam, Marlen opened her law practice with an emphasis on immigration and family laws. Her admission to practice law in TN also allows her to practice Immigration in all fifty states. Marlen offers unique services to her clients based on empathy and trust. She believes that persistence, more than experience or any other factor, is the key to success. Marlen is not your typical Attorney; she fled Cuba and came to the U.S. to join her husband, a refugee from Cuba already living in Nashville. What should have been a straightforward journey became an eight-year ordeal due to the ineffective advice of an immigration attorney. Her struggles to obtain legal status show the complexities of our immigration system and the importance of selecting the right Attorney. She knows navigating our legal system can be difficult and discouraging, but she will persist until she wins.
The beginning
Marlen’s story
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