Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Elliott (Ustaoglu).
Erin Elliott is the managing attorney of Elliott Immigration Law LLC and has been practicing law for over ten years. She focuses her practice 100% on immigration law. She represents individuals, families, and companies in obtaining various temporary visas such as fiancé, student, trainee, entrepreneur, and employment as well as permanent immigration through family and employers.
After attending Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, Erin continued her education at Loyola Law School in New Orleans. Upon her graduation from law school, Erin returned to Atlanta and began her career at a national law firm where she specialized in business and corporate law for clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to small start-ups. While assisting such clients, she became aware of the difficulties in obtaining and keeping foreign worker employees. Also, during this time, Erin met her Turkish husband and was personally exposed to the green card and naturalization process.
Based on her experiences, Erin opened her own law practice in 2011 to assist businesses, entrepreneurs and individuals in navigating the, often intimidating, U.S. immigration legal system.
She is now a frequent speaker for the Georgia Bar Association, the American Immigration Lawyers Association and serves as an advocate for immigrants and companies in need of foreign workers in various leadership capacities.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Practicing law in the area of immigration today is anything but smooth. Overall, our community is dealing with significant delays, a huge increase in requests for additional evidence from government agencies and a generally intimidating and burdensome process for customers working with these agencies.
From a personal level, the struggle of making a leap from practicing as an associate at a large firm to opening my own practice was certainly the most significant and difficult. Almost everyone in my family is an entrepreneur, but I wasn’t sure that this was the path for me. I am not naturally a salesperson or great at networking. I also had just given birth to our second child when I made this transition. There were many sleepless nights caring for an infant while simultaneously scouring legal reference books and business guides. However, once I became comfortable that my expertise and honesty with clients was valuable enough to grow the firm, I thrived as an entrepreneur.
Having my own firm allows me to be completely in touch with our clients’ needs and the ability to immediately tweak our case handling based on those needs. Along with my team, I work directly with each client which allows us to hear their feedback and thoughtfully implement processes for a better client experience.
Elliott Immigration Law – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Our firm specialized in business and family immigration.
As a firm, we really take the term “counselor” to heart. Immigration law is often intimidating because the process is confusing and there is so much at stake for our clients. Our goal is to serve as a guide for our clients and to anticipate every next step in the process so we don’t have surprises.
Our motto around the office is that “each client should serve as a referral for the next” and based on our feedback, I’m pleased with our accomplishments, thus far. I am most proud of our clients’ feedback (Google, Yelp, and Lawyers.com) for which we have 5-star ratings. I was also recently recognized by Super Lawyers Magazine and was selected as “Attorney to Watch” by Attorney at Law Magazine. From an advocacy perspective, I’m very active in AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association) and serve on the Executive Committee for our Chapter. I have also been active with Next on Board, a women’s group here in Atlanta and was selected as “Member of the Year’ in 2018.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success to me is the ability to achieve the goals I’ve set for myself and still love what I am doing.
While my goals have changed over the years, currently my goal as an immigration attorney and a business owner is to deliver the highest quality legal work that I have ever provided. While recent changes to our immigration system were initially upsetting and frustrating to me, I realized that the only response is to step up our game as immigration advocates. This means, more critical thinking, creative responses, and even more diligent representation.
I still get frustrated with these changes but I’ve recently started to focus more on self-care and the ability to step away from work mentally when I’m not in the office. I practice yoga every morning at 5:30 before work and get home at a reasonable hour to really enjoy time with my children (11 & 7). This balance allows me to maintain my passion in my work but also keep some perspective.
Pricing:
- Attorney consultation ($200)
Contact Info:
- Address: 3355 Lenox Rd., Suite 750 Atlanta, Georgia 30329
- Website: www.elliottimmigrationlaw.com
- Phone: 404-890-0372
- Email: erin@erinelliottesq.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elliottimmigrationlaw
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ErinElliottEsq
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/elliott-immigration-law-atlanta-2
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliottimmigrationlaw/
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
