Legal portfolio

Rhonna-Rose Akama-Makia

Trauma Informed Legal Professional

Michigan • law@rhonnarose.com • (313) 246-2571 • rhonnarose.com

Rhonna-Rose is not an attorney and does not provide legal advice or legal services. Legal work described here is performed under attorney supervision.

Profile

For almost 20 years, I have helped employers build the policies and practices employees live by. Before people ever meet the law, they meet the systems around them. My work is to ensure those systems treat people with dignity at every step.

My approach is trauma informed and evidence based. I treat psychosocial risk as seriously as legal risk, from how people disclose harm to the secondary traumatic stress of emotionally demanding work, and build processes that are equitable and transparent.

Education

Cooley Law School
Juris Doctor Candidate

University of Michigan Flint
Bachelor of Business AdministrationCertificate, Business Analytics
Certificate, International Business Development
Dean's List

2026

Core competencies

Trauma informed employment practice

Compliance, accountability, and dignity in employee relations.

Replaced traditionally punitive performance improvement plans with an accountability model built for consistency and defensibility, grounded in procedural justice, clear standards, and documented expectations.
Integrated alternative dispute resolution and restorative practices into employee relations, resolving conflict early and without defaulting to discipline, reducing escalation to formal complaints.
Drafted and codified workplace policies and FLSA compliant career ladders, replacing unwritten rules with written standards applied consistently across the workforce.
Developed leave coverage and return protocols modeled on FMLA standards before employers reached the 50 employee coverage threshold, protecting employees exposed to secondary traumatic stress and positioning organizations to grow into compliance without disruption.
Advise executive leadership on policy development and personnel actions for a statewide advocacy organization, identifying legal exposure before decisions are final.

Workplace investigations and employment compliance

The facts, the law, and the people, handled with discretion.

Scoped and conducted workplace investigations across a multistate workforce of 250+ employees and volunteers, treating every party with dignity without compromising the integrity of the process.
Guided executive leadership through multistate employment compliance for full time, part time, temporary, and volunteer workers, from FMLA and wage and hour obligations to exempt and non exempt classification.
Partnered with outside counsel on sensitive personnel matters, balancing confidentiality with transparency for the people involved.

Immigration legal practice

Casework, research, and client care in family based and humanitarian matters.

Support casework at a private immigration firm spanning I-130 petitions, adjustment of status (I-485), and Special Immigrant Juvenile Status cases for unaccompanied minors.
Conduct legal research and draft memoranda on immigration law and policy developments, preparing case files for removal proceedings before the Immigration Court.
Conduct trauma informed client interviews directly and through interpreters, recognizing how trauma shapes memory and disclosure.
Maintain case files for 50+ matters at a statewide immigrant rights legal center in compliance with the Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct, and conduct intake and eligibility screening at a community immigration clinic.

Advocacy and coalition building

Policy, partnership, and direct support for immigrant families.

Under attorney supervision, provide work authorization navigation and immigration document preparation support for African and Caribbean immigrant families.
Advance policy advocacy to remove barriers to work authorization, with working relationships with government representatives from five African nations and partnerships across 12 organizations.

Operations leadership at scale

Compliance, budgets, and people under real deadlines.

Managed operations and compliance infrastructure for multiple federal, gubernatorial, state legislative, and judicial campaigns raising over $10 million, including FEC reporting and campaign finance oversight.
Onboarded and trained hundreds of campaign employees and volunteers, coordinating with legal counsel on election law and compliance matters.
Directed statewide programs reaching almost 10,000 participants, managing budgets and evaluation systems to meet funder reporting and accountability requirements.

Certifications and training

PHRi, Professional in Human Resources, International
HR Certification Institute

2026

aPHRi, Associate Professional in Human Resources, International
HR Certification Institute

2025

Paralegal Certificate
Center for Legal Studies, with Washtenaw Community College

2026

Removal Defense Training (40 hours)
National Immigration ProjectAsylum, withholding of removal, Convention Against Torture protections, and bond hearings.

2026

OSHA 30 Hour Outreach Training, General Industry
OSHA Education Center

Areas of interest

Employment law; workplace investigations; trauma informed legal practice; employment based immigration; removal defense; humanitarian relief; restorative justice; African diaspora economic development.

Full career history available at rhonnarose.com/resume.