Valarie Hope McPherson

Valarie McPherson is a senior Associate in the Immigration & Nationality Group. She represents companies from Fortune 500 to small and medium-sized entities in the banking, finance, pharmaceutical, medical, publishing, manufacturing and fashion industries, as well as public and private foundations and individuals in a variety of immigration matters including:

• Securing employment-based nonimmigrant visas (including B, E, H, J, L, M, O, P, Q, and TN) for employers

• Counseling clients through the EB-5 immigrant investor visa process

• Providing guidance and counseling to clients with regard to all aspects of the permanent residency process, including family-based, diversity lottery and all employment-based categories, including the PERM process with the department of labor and petitions to the USCIS for individuals of extraordinary ability and outstanding researchers
• Counseling clients on a wide variety of compliance matters including public access files, employment eligibility verification systems, and related issues
• Developing and implementing corporate policies and procedures relating to employment verification systems and immigration sponsorship

Prior to joining Proskauer, Valarie was a member of the Attorney General’s Honor Graduate Program and served as Attorney Advisor to approximately 30 Immigration Judges at the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) in New York City. Through her work at EOIR, Valarie gained extensive experience in all areas of immigration law and immigration litigation. In addition, Valarie was awarded the National Lawyer's Guild Fellowship at the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project in Florence, Arizona. During her Fellowship, Valarie worked on numerous complex immigration litigation matters involving political freedom of expression, sexual orientation, criminal aliens and detained aliens.

In law school, Valarie was the President of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistant Project (VITA) and Vice-President of the Hispanic Law Students Association (Alianza). In October 2000, the Women's Law Caucus and Rutgers School of Law in Camden awarded Valarie the esteemed Mary Philbrook Public Interest Award for her commitment to immigrant, Hispanic and elderly clients.