The positive energy of Zjantelle Cammisa Markel (LLB, BA ’98) has propelled her legal career onto the international stage. Using the knowledge garnered from studying law at Flinders University, she has made the great leap to run her own successful law firm in New York City that specialises in US immigration law, representing organisations and individuals from all over the world.
“Nothing was planned this way,” says Zjantelle. “I started travelling around the world and never came back. What I found is that the beauty of obtaining a law degree in Australia, which is a common law country – not a civil law country, such as Italy, Germany or France – means my Flinders Bachelor of Laws qualification is acknowledged in the US, where you only need to take the bar exam to become qualified as an attorney.”
Her journey reflects her ability to react in the moment to opportunities, as she admits that on graduating from Flinders, she had no intention of using her law degree as an international passport for employment.
“My intention was to travel around the world for six months, as I have an Italian passport, and come back to work as a lawyer in Sydney,” says Zjantelle.
It didn’t unfold that way; after several months’ work in Rome, mostly translating legal documents from English to Italian, she went to London and did litigation for a law firm.
“I had a round-the-world airline ticket that had to be used within a year, so I decided to honour that in 1999 by going from London to New York, then California back to London – but again things changed. I fell in love with New York City,” says Zjantelle.
She also made contact with a New York-based lawyer she had met while on vacation in Greece several years earlier. He encouraged Zjantelle to stay and give New York City a go.
“He said that if I didn’t give it a go, I would always wonder what would have happened if… I said I’d give it two weeks and if I found a job in that time, I’d give it a go. So he introduced me to an immigration lawyer who offered me employment, and that’s how I got my first visa.”
“I found that my love of languages became a real asset in immigration law. I had done an Arts/Law degree at Flinders and majored in Italian, but I had also studied Greek, French and Spanish. This area of law was engaging with people who spoke so many languages. I was in the right place with the right skills.”
She also engaged actively in local groups, joining the Young Executive Committee for the Italian Chamber of Commerce in New York during 2002. At a networking party, she met a hotelier who needed urgent work visas for hotel management staff he was bringing in from the Czech Republic, Canada and Spain.
“He asked if I could help, I said yes, and the first work began for what would eventually become my own business. The hotelier referred other businesses, the hotel managers whose visas I had done referred their friends and just like that, based purely on referrals and word of mouth, the business grew. As it grew, I needed more staff and more office space and the referrals kept coming.”
Zjantelle now works from a 460-square-metre office in lower Manhattan with sweeping views of the Freedom Tower, the Oculus and parts of the Hudson River. Her clients include individuals and businesses in the fields of tech, AI, hospitality, design, architecture, luxury fashion, advertising, cryptocurrency, finance and more. She has 15 staff – many of whom are Australian – and she also retains an office in Adelaide with one staff member, as about 70 per cent of her business is working with Australian businesses expanding into the US market and helping Australians who want to work and live in the US.
“I stay with some of these people through their US immigration journey across 20 years – from obtaining visas, to applying for green cards, to some eventually applying for US citizenship. One of the most rewarding parts of my job is watching their American dream come true and their lives flourishing. They have found what I have – that America really is an incredible land of opportunity.”
She is pleased that she has curated her own company – called Cammisa Markel – in the image and culture that she wants to project, reflecting her positivity and joy for life, care for people and non-defeatist attitude. She and her team take pride in instilling trust and confidence in their clients through their commitment to excellence, attention to detail and a meticulous, thoughtful approach to every case.
“Our differentiator is the way we make people feel.”
“Law is often not a very warm and loving profession – but this area of the law is different, because we care a lot not only about the outcomes, but our clients’ lives and businesses on the whole. We don’t only do their visas, we make connections and introductions, we help them to truly succeed in the US in any way we can.
“We get to know them, their families, their staff, their colleagues. Our clients genuinely love us, because we help make their dreams of expanding their businesses into the US market or living in America come true, and in doing that we come to love them too!”
Zjantelle’s clients often describe her as a ‘velvet hammer’ and even ‘a weapon’ in her field. Many too will say, “she’s been like my American mother, caring for me ever since I came to the US!”
Zjantelle is particularly proud of her ongoing links to Australia – she is on the board of the American Australian Association, which has former South Australian Premier Steven Marshall as its current president – and happily recalls her study experiences at Flinders.
“This all happened because I said yes when I was accepted into Law at Flinders. I had actually wanted to study drama and become a world-famous actress, but if you get accepted into Law at Flinders, that’s an opportunity you just can’t say no to. I guess I’ll just have to become a world-famous lawyer instead!”
Now, a husband, four children, and a 60-kilogram Bernedoodle later, she says, “New York is my home, and I feel so privileged to be living here and helping others to live out their American dream.”