
Meet the Attorney

Elizabeth M. Trinidad
(previously Elegbede & Passarge)
Founder & Attorney
Elizabeth M. Trinidad opened her Law Office back in April 2001.
For well over 20 years, the office has represented mostly working-class, mostly Mexican, Guatemalan, Jamaican, Colombian, Puerto Rican, and other clients.
Elizabeth is a member of AILA, the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
AILA is a voluntary association of over 16,000 attorneys. Membership is considered a prerequisite to being taken seriously as an immigration attorney in the community of U.S. immigration lawyers.
Education & Professional
Elizabeth M. Trinidad attended the University of Pennsylvania, earning a Bachelor of Arts Degree magna cum laude in 1993 in Linguistics, with minors in African Studies and in Folklore & Folklife Studies. Elizabeth attended Temple University School of Law, receiving a J.D. (regular law degree) in 1998. Elizabeth is licensed to practice law in the State of New Jersey. She is admitted to practice law before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. She can accept immigration law cases from anywhere in the United States. Elizabeth has provided immigration-related training to other lawyers, to Superior Court judges, and public defenders. She maintains close relationships with her immigration law colleagues and other defense attorneys.
Travel, Languages, Personal
Elizabeth is herself the child of an immigrant (American mother in Germany). Elizabeth grew up bilingually & biculturally in the former West Germany. She has been to Mexico, South Africa, Peru, Guatemala, Venezuela, Nigeria, Switzerland, France, Spain, the U.K., Italy, the former USSR, and the former East Germany. Elizabeth speaks, reads, and writes English, Spanish, German, and French. In the past, Elizabeth was proficient in Russian, Yoruba, and Hausa. Elizabeth is interested in learning basic Arabic. She lives with her spouse and their son, plus a bushy-tailed cat who runs the household.
Precedential Case Law
In 2014, Elizabeth won a seminal published case in the New Jersey Appellate Division, State v. Armando Carreon. That case, for the first time ever, interpreted the sentencing provisions of New Jersey’s unlicensed driver statute. In 2023, Elizabeth won a non-precedential decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, B.L.L. v. Attorney General, which provides important interpretations for those seeking humanitarian asylum.