The 2023 Lawdragon 100 Leading Immigration Lawyers
By Katrina Dewey | May 5, 2023 | Guides, News & Features
Lawdragon honoree Kate Kalmykov of Greenberg Traurig.
This remarkable group of elite advisors leads the way opening doors and borders for businesses and other organizations in their talent needs, as well as individuals in joining their family and seeking a new and better life.
We’re hard pressed to think of a discipline so at the core of our legal rights: To be able to live and work in freedom to achieve one’s potential. And yet there are crushing realities in this world of ours limiting those who can pursue their dreams. These are the lawyers on the front lines advocating for immigrant rights while weighing against regulations.
This is our inaugural guide under this banner. We’ve provided dedicated reporting on immigration law since 2008, largely as part of our focus on top employment advisors to corporations and businesses. With this expanded guide, we’ve opened our own door a bit wider to recognize the tremendous importance of this arena, and to salute, as well, a number of “consumer” immigration advocates who fight each day to help those trapped at the border or otherwise constrained.
We chose this guide through our decades-honed process that combines journalistic research, robust submissions and vetting by peers.
Lawdragon is an advocate for equality and inclusion. This guide is 60 percent women and 40 percent inclusive. Individuals who have previously been inducted into the Lawdragon Hall of Fame are recognized with an asterisk.
As those whose forebears have been among the poor, huddled masses, it’s a particular pride to report on these lawyers who have dedicated themselves to “The New Colossus,” as the poem on the Statue of Liberty coins. And perhaps not an inappropriate time to remember its words.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
| First | Last | Firm | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Geetha Nadiminti | Adinata | FordHarrison | Los Angeles |
| Carmita | Alonso | Fragomen | New York |
| Jeff | Appleman* | BAL | San Francisco |
| Alexis | Axelrad | Barst | New York |
| Davis C. | Bae | Fisher & Phillips | Seattle |
| Ryan | Bay | Global Immigration Associates | Chicago |
| Marcela | Bermudez | Greenspoon Marder | New York |
| David | Berry* | BAL | San Francisco |
| Eric S. | Bord | Morgan Lewis | Washington, D.C. |
| Delisa | Bressler | Foster | Austin |
| Roberto | Caballero | BAL | Houston |
| Colleen L. | Caden | Pryor Cashman | New York |
| Susan J. | Cohen | Mintz | Boston |
| Bo | Cooper | Fragomen | Washington, D.C. |
| Helene | Dang | Foster | Houston |
| Shannon | Donnelly | Morgan Lewis | Washington, D.C. |
| Kelli | Duehning | BAL | San Francisco |
| Matthew S. | Dunn | Kramer Levin | New York |
| George | Ernst | Hall Booth Smith | Little Rock |
| Corina M. | Farias | Foster | Austin |
| Charles C. | Foster* | Foster | Houston |
| Austin | Fragomen* | Fragomen | Miami |
| Jeremy | Fudge | BAL | Dallas |
| Patricia | Gannon | Greenspoon Marder | New York |
| Frieda | Garcia | BAL | San Francisco |
| Victoria M. | Garcia | Bracewell | San Antonio |
| Darren G. | Gardner | King & Spalding | San Francisco |
| Candice | Garrett | Stone Grzegorek | Los Angeles |
| Elizabeth L.A. | Garvish | Garvish Immigration Law Group | Atlanta |
| Jennifer Walker | Gates | JLW Immigration Law Group | Austin |
| Delya | Ghosh | BAL | San Francisco |
| Kortney | Gibson | BAL | Dallas |
| Josie | Gonzalez | Stone Grzegorek | Los Angeles |
| Sandra | Grossman | Grossman Young | Bethesda |
| David | Grunblatt | Fragomen | New York |
| Kathleen | Grzegorek | Stone Grzegorek | Los Angeles |
| Denise | Hammond* | Grossman Young | Silver Spring, Md. |
| Carl | Hampe | Fragomen | Washington, D.C. |
| Addie | Hogan | Corporate Immigration Partners | San Francisco |
| Yeu Sik | Hong | Stone Grzegorek | Los Angeles |
| Elizabeth | Jamae | Corporate Immigration Partners | San Francisco |
| Elizabeth | Jordan | Civil Rights Education & Enforcement Center | Denver |
| Jeff | Joseph | BAL | Denver |
| Kate | Kalmykov | Greenberg Traurig | Florham Park, N.J. |
| Sameer | Khedekar | Banyan | Mountain View, Calif. |
| Rebecca | Kitson | Rebecca Kitson Law | Albuquerque |
| H. Ronald | Klasko* | Klasko Immigration Law Partners | Philadelphia |
| Mark D. | Koestler | Kramer Levin | New York |
| Ira J. | Kurzban* | Kurzban Kurzban | Coral Gables |
| Avalyn | Langemeier | Foster | Houston |
| David W. | Leopold | Ulmer | Cleveland |
| Taylor | Levy | Taylor Levy Law | El Paso |
| Marketa | Lindt | Sidley | Chicago |
| Robert | Loughran | Foster | Austin |
| Ian | Love | Global Immigration Associates | Chicago |
| Jeremy | McKinney | Jeremy McKinney | Greensboro, N.C. |
| Lynden | Melmed | BAL | Washington, D.C. |
| John | Meyer | Foster | Houston |
| Jennifer | Minear | McCandlish Holton | Charlottesville, Va. |
| Kevin | Miner | Fragomen | Atlanta |
| Dorothee | Mitchell | Foster | Austin |
| Fadi | Nahhas | Eastman & Smith | Toledo |
| Spojmie | Nasiri | Law Offices of Spojmie Nasiri | San Francisco |
| Michael | Neifach | Jackson Lewis | Washington, D.C. |
| Paola | Neri-Michel | Neri Law Offices | Los Angeles |
| Susannah | Nichols | Global Immigration Associates | Chicago |
| Deborah J. | Notkin* | Barst | New York |
| Otieno | Ombok | Jackson Lewis | White Plains, N.Y. |
| Allen | Orr Jr. | Orr Immigration Law Firm | Washington, D.C. |
| Farshad | Owji | WR Immigration | San Francisco |
| Angelo | Paparelli* | Vialto Law | Los Angeles |
| Amy L. | Peck | Jackson Lewis | Omaha |
| Eleanor | Pelta | Morgan Lewis | Washington, D.C. |
| Jose | Perez | Foster | Houston |
| Sarah K. | Peterson | Fragomen | Minneapolis |
| Susan | Pilcher | Stone Grzegorek | Los Angeles |
| Irina | Plumlee | Munsch Hardt | Dallas |
| John Patrick | Pratt | Kurzban Kurzban | Coral Gables |
| John F. | Quill | Mintz | Boston |
| Thomas | Ragland | Clark Hill | Washington, D.C. |
| Edward | Ramos | Kurzban Kurzban | Coral Gables |
| Laura Foote | Reiff | Greenberg Traurig | McLean, Va. |
| Edward | Rios | BAL | Boston |
| Kimberley Best | Robidoux | WR Immigration | San Diego |
| Nestor | Rosin | Foster | Houston |
| Nataliya | Rymer | Greenberg Traurig | Philadelphia |
| Denyse | Sabagh* | Duane Morris | Washington, D.C. |
| Elham | Sadri | Sadri Law | San Jose |
| Martha | Schoonover | Greenberg Traurig | McLean, Va. |
| Suzanne B. | Seltzer | The Seltzer Firm | New York |
| Grace | Shie | Mayer Brown | Washington, D.C. |
| J. Anthony | Smith | Tafapolsky Smith Mehlman | Los Angeles |
| Grant | Sovern | Quarles & Brady | Madison, Wis. |
| Lisa | Spiegel | Duane Morris | San Diego |
| Elizabeth Espín | Stern | Mayer Brown | Washington, D.C. |
| William A. | Stock | Klasko Immigration Law Partners | Philadelphia |
| Jacquelyn | Stone | McGuireWoods | Richmond |
| Lincoln | Stone | SGG Immigration | Los Angeles |
| Kelli | Stump | Stump Law | Oklahoma City |
| Petra | Tang | BAL | San Francisco |
| Carla | Tarazi | BAL | San Francisco |
| Paige | Taylor | Fragomen | Houston |
| Helena | Tetzeli | Kurzban Kurzban | Coral Gables |
| Sarah Lea | Tobocman | Gunster | Miami |
| Anastasia | Tonello | Ulmer | New York |
| Yvonne | Toy | Ogletree | San Francisco |
| Christy | Umstadter | Corporate Immigration Partners | San Francisco |
| A. James | Vazquez-Azpiri | Tafapolsky & Smith | San Francisco |
| Ronald | Wada | Tafapolsky Smith Mehlman | San Francisco |
| Kathleen Campbell | Walker | Dickinson Wright | El Paso |
| David A.M. | Ware | Ware Law | Metairie, La. |
| Jacqueline L. | Watson | JLW Immigration Law Group | Austin |
| Susan | Wehrer | BAL | Dallas |
| Bernard | Wolfsdorf* | WR Immigration | Santa Monica, Calif. |
| Scott W. | Wright | Faegre Drinker | Minneapolis |
| Becki | Young | Grossman Young | Silver Spring, Md. |
