Michael Serotte, Founder and Senior Partner of Serotte Law, focuses on helping immigrant entrepreneurs, founders, start ups and more. Michael serves as Immigration Counsel for Stanford’s StartX and Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, Duke’s Entrepreneurship Initiative, and numerous private accelerators including Unshackled, Alchemist, and Founder Institute. His client list includes many Bay Area startups.

Michael also advises on the immigration-related needs of employers in a wide range of industries, including technology, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, and media. He also enjoys working with individuals who have complicated business and investment immigration cases, and Canadians who have been denied entry at the U.S. border.

Michael’s background in business, finance, and entrepreneurship offers his clients a valuable perspective on business and investment immigration strategies for both established companies and start ups.

After earning a BBA in Accounting and Finance as an undergraduate at the University of Miami, he worked as an accountant with the predecessor of Ernst & Young, and practiced law and worked in finance in Washington, DC.

Serotte Law has clients all over the U.S. and in many foreign countries who Michael interacts with via conference calls and Skype. He also travels to his office in the San Francisco, New York, Buffalo and Toronto to meet with clients face-to-face.

Michael’s biggest thrill comes when his team gets a case approved when other lawyers said it couldn’t. And when the Buffalo Bills win a Super Bowl!

Rita Georges is the Managing Partner at Serotte Law. Her practice is focused on investment and employment based immigration law, which allows her to help corporate clients, entrepreneurs, foreign investors, and others achieve their U.S. business goals. She also focuses on cross border issues.  She is particularly adept in the Treaty Trader and Treaty Investor (E-1/E-2) visa categories, the H-1B and the L-1 Intra-company transferee.  Additionally, Ms. Georges has a well-established understanding of the PERM and Green Card processes.

Born and raised in Beirut Lebanon, Ms. Georges immigrated to the U.S. in 1991. In 2006, she completed a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies with a minor in foreign languages. She also completed a year of graduate studies in secondary education. Ms. Georges graduated with her Juris Doctorate from the University at Buffalo School of Law in 2011, earning a dual concentration in international law and finance. As a law student, Ms. Georges held internships with the New York State Office of the Attorney General under Mario Cuomo and with Serotte Law Firm, LLC.  Her combination of educational, professional and life experiences allows her to bring strong business understanding as well as first-hand, multi-cultural knowledge of the Middle East to her practice of law.

As a firm, we also benefit from Ms.Georges’ keen business sense as she performs her duties as Managing Partner.  In this role, she keeps the firm’s wheels on the track by managing the day-to-day operations, overseeing staff, and implementing both long- and short-term business strategies.

Ms. Georges is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and is fluent in English, French, and Arabic.

Michael has been providing a full range of immigration services since 1984.  This includes business immigration matters for executives, managers, IT professionals and entrepreneurs; O and P visas for professional athletes and entertainers; all immigrant visas; physicians and health professionals, including J-1 waivers; fiancés, family sponsorship, and waivers of inadmissibility.

Mr. Marszalkowski has extensive experience in U.S. Immigration Court handling select removal matters. He has handled over 200 asylum cases, most on a pro bono basis.  He handles appeals to the Board of Immigration Appeals, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals and the New York Court of Appeals. He is known for creative solutions to complex cases.

Raghavan brings to Serotte Law a very diverse set of skills, training, experience, and talent. His undergraduate education is from SUNY Buffalo, having majored in mathematics and political science. In 2008, he received his Juris Doctor from the Boston University School of Law. His law experiences include interning with the United States District Court, and working as a litigation associate with Foley & Hoag in Boston. Additionally, he has worked within the compliance division with a major bank in Western New York.

As a lawyer with SLF, Raghavan concentrates on complex petitions and works very closely with Susan Murray, Senior Paralegal, and with both Michael Serotte, Senior Partner, and Rita Georges, Managing Partner. Raghavan is a true team player and valued member of SLF.

Rounding out his unique depth is the fact that he has served as a special tutor for high school and college students to prepare for PSAT, SAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT, and LSAT standardized tests, focusing on effective learning strategies.

As a team member with Serotte Law, his passion for helping clients realize their work, business, and life’s dreams make for a great fit within this firm.

Cathryn Sawicki is the Managing Partner of Serotte Law Canada. Cathryn is a lawyer in good standing with the Canadian Bar Association (CBA), Ontario Bar Association and a member of the Law Society of Ontario. She completed her law degree at Osgoode Hall and is the co-author of a book called “Canadian Immigration and Refugee Law: A Practitioners Handbook” which is currently in its second edition and distributed by Emond Publishing. Cathryn has been designated as a Certified Specialist in Immigration and Citizenship Law by the Law Society of Ontario and has particular expertise in the area of compliance, strategic immigration solutions, and immigration processing.

With more than 20 years of experience in the area of citizenship and immigration law, Cathryn is able to provide strategic advice to multi-national companies, small businesses, and individuals. She can assist clients with long-term and short-term immigration solutions. Cathryn has extensive experience and expertise on a variety of aspects ranging from employer compliance, Federal Court matters, and global mobility solutions.

She has leading caselaw before the Federal Court of Canada and the Federal Court of Appeal. Cathryn obtained one of the largest immigration settlements in the 50-year history of one of the law firms she worked at. Cathryn has shared her immigration knowledge across Canada for various entities such as, IMEDA, Federated Press, Professional Development Seminars, the CBA and more. Cathryn also enjoys teaching immigration law at various colleges and law schools across Canada.

Katja has been with Serotte Law since 2006, giving her over 13 years of experience in Immigration Law. At the beginning of her career as a Paralegal with Serotte Law, she primarily focused on Extraordinary Ability cases such as O-1 nonimmigrant visas and EB-1 Immigrant petitions. However, she also handled many family-based cases, waivers, and some outbound Canadian immigration cases. Most recently, Katja has been focused on Extraordinary cases since she became an attorney in November 2014. Katja has also been responsible for creating writing pieces for the Serotte Law website.

Katja was born and raised in Germany and immigrated to the United States in 2003 on a K-1 fiancée visa.  She earned her dual citizenship in 2011 and is now both a legal citizen in Germany and the United States.  While in Germany, Katja earned her diploma in psychology and worked for 5+ years as a psychologist in a German psychiatric hospital, where she also had to provide forensic evaluations for use in criminal proceedings at the time.

Katja earned her Paralegal Certificate from the University of California, Irvine, University Extension. She also obtained her Juris Doctor Degree for St. Mary’s School of Law in San Antonio, Texas in 2014 and finished in the top 14% of her class.

Some of Katja’s professional accomplishments include being a staff writer on St. Mary’s Law Review on Race and Social Justice. She was also invited to author an extensive article on cross-border considerations for Canadian event planners which was published in the July/August 2017 issues of Canadian print magazine Meetings + Incentive Travel. She is also a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Editorial Freelancers Association.

Outside of the office, Katja describes herself as a podcast junkie, animal lover, avid violinist, and Scandinavian noir fan. When asked how she describes herself and her attention to her clients at Serotte Law, she said she would describe herself as methodical, curious and tenacious.

Jim’s practice will provide attorneys and their clients with expert legal research, advice, and opinions. He will also provide representation in agency proceedings involving the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ).

He will focus on immigration law and procedure applicable to inspection of arriving foreign nationals; processing of removable/deportable foreign nationals in removal proceedings; relief from removal available to removable aliens; and immigration consequences of criminal convictions of foreign nationals. He will take particular interest in ensuring that the DHS and the DOJ correctly apply recent significant law developments that relate to issues involving criminal convictions as grounds of inadmissibility/removability. He will also represent employers subject to worksite enforcement proceedings.

With over 40 years of practicing immigration law, Jim has provided extensive counsel to attorneys and judges on issues raised in federal court civil and criminal litigation involving immigration law.  For many years, he was a part-time Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (Civil) for the Western and Northern Districts of New York.

In addition to serving as the Buffalo Chief Counsel for DHS from 2003-2012, he was Buffalo District Counsel for the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) from 1981-2003, and a Trial Attorney for the INS from 1976-1981. He also taught immigration law at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

Jim brings a vast wealth of knowledge on the effects of criminal convictions on immigration status. He has shared that knowledge with numerous attorneys requesting his legal advice in prospective/pending administrative and judicial proceedings. He also participated on Erie County Bar Association panels discussing the representation of criminal aliens facing immigration consequences.

In 1976, he was selected to be the lead INS attorney for the DOJ Nazi War Criminal Project. Jim testified before a congressional sub-committee and guided the development of the first deportation proceedings against alleged Nazi war criminals living in the U.S.

Jim takes a particular interest in ensuring that favorable agency discretion is exercised whenever appropriate and in ensuring that foreign nationals receive due process.

Mr. Grable is a graduate of Canisius College and the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School.

Admissions

• New York State, 1966
• New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Department, 1966
• United States District Court (WDNY), 1967
• United States District Court (NDNY), 1998
• United States Supreme Court, 1980