Richard A. Gump Jr.

After active duty training in the Army Reserves and upon graduation from the University of Texas School of Law in December 1972, I began my  career as the 22nd lawyer at the Dallas law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, formed by Robert S. Strauss and my father after World War II in 1945. While I worked primarily on business structuring and bank representation (bank formation and lending, commercial transactions, etc.), my first immigration client emerged from a bank customer in 1973 when I developed experience in investor visas and labor certifications by opening three ethnic restaurants. By 1993, I made the complete transition to immigration law and opened my own firm to concentrate on assisting businesses and individuals cope with increasingly complicated immigration laws. 

For over 40 years I have counseled individuals and companies on all types of temporary and permanent business and family visas, investor visas (temporary E-2 and permanent EB-5 visas), sports visas, and naturalization and citizenship issues.

I have considerable experience in worksite enforcement (e.g. I-9 inspections by ICE and independent audits of immigration related practices). I handled the first employer sanctions case filed in the Southwestern United States under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (“IRCA”), and was co-counsel in one of the largest civil/criminal settlements in worksite compliance history. 

I advise businesses on risk assessment and strategic planning in order to hire and retain foreign personnel, conduct due diligence in mergers & acquisitions, and create and maintain compliance policies.