Harris Beach PLLC is expanding its statewide practice in immigration law with the hiring of a new senior counsel with experience in academic, health care and general employment immigration law.
Andrea Godfread-Brown joins the Harris Beach office in Syracuse after more than 10 years in private practice and another seven years as an in-house immigration counsel at Syracuse University, one of the nation’s leading research institutions. Ms. Godfread-Brown is joining an immigration law team that provides legal guidance to organizations around the state in hiring, transferring and retaining non-U.S. talent.
“Organizations today must attract and retain from around the world to stay competitive,” said David Capriotti, managing partner, Harris Beach Syracuse. “But hiring foreign workers can be challenging. Andrea will expand our capabilities in advising and guiding clients in central New York and elsewhere on employment-related immigration issues.”
Ms. Godfread-Brown regularly handles J waivers, H-1Bs, O-1s and EB Permanent Resident petitions for many industries. She also handles employment-based Green Card work for health care, IT consulting, and engineering firm clients, and assists small and start-up tech and engineering companies in sponsoring employees for H-1B and EB-1/EB-2 Green Cards. In recent years she has specialized in representing hospitals and medical practice groups when they hire foreign-trained nurses, physicians, physician assistants and other allied health professionals.
Ms. Godfread-Brown earned her Juris Doctorate from the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. She is a member of the International Medical Graduate Task Force, Conference Committee Chair and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
About Harris Beach
Founded in 1856, Harris Beach and its subsidiaries provide a full range of legal and professional services for clients across New York state, as well as nationally and internationally. Harris Beach is among the country’s top law firms according to The National Law Journal and ranks as a BTI Elite law firm based on in-depth interviews of more than 600 corporate counsel at the world’s largest and most influential companies. Clients include Fortune 100 corporations, privately-held companies, emerging businesses, public sector entities, not-for-profit organizations and individuals. Principal industries Harris Beach represents include education, energy, financial, food and beverage, health care, insurance, manufacturing, medical and life sciences, real estate developers, science and technology, veterinary medicine, and state and local governments and authorities. The firm’s more than 220 lawyers practice among offices throughout New York state in Albany, Buffalo, Ithaca, Melville, New York City, Rochester, Saratoga Springs, Syracuse, Uniondale and White Plains, as well as in New Haven, Connecticut and Newark, New Jersey.
