Today we’d like to introduce you to Elizabeth Garvish.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Elizabeth. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I hear about people struggling to find their purpose and their passion, but I actually stumbled into mine. After graduating law school, taking the bar and a short detour to live abroad, I returned home to Texas to find a job as a lawyer. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I loved languages and decided to search for a legal job at a firm where I could speak Spanish. I was offered a position at a boutique immigration firm and the rest is history. Immigration law was unlike any other area. We advocated for benefits for amazing, deserving people and families. Our immigration cases generally ended with all parties happy and lives changed. I thought that was amazing. I went from this first job to many iterations including a nonprofit and BigLaw until I started my current firm in 2011. I knew that things could be better and that there was a better model of law firm where my team and I could be more content professionally and personally.
That is what I set out to create with my current firm. We are now on a path of growth and discovery and developing a new law firm model focused on excellence as well as on ensuring that our parent and caregiver team members have the opportunity to have leave and flex schedules to meet family needs without giving up their careers. I had to come back to work two weeks after the birth of my twins and after this experience, I was determined to ensure my team had the family time they needed. I also take an outward-facing approach and strive to get the team invested in the overall success of the firm. We are in an active growth mode and have grown our revenue each year without significant increases in staff. We plan to grow even more in the coming year. Growth in my mind does not mean coming from a place of cost-cutting and lack but from a place of abundance and creation. Our firm policies reflect this abundant mindset and in turn, our team is fulfilled and happy.
Moreover, we are very dedicated to service and serve at our local and national bar associations as well as taking pro bono cases with a focus on family members of the U.S. military.
Finally, I am excited to announce that I just purchased a new office space and plan to renovate and have room to grow in Buckhead!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has not been smooth, but each challenge has really been a learning opportunity. I had my share of uncaring employers and supervisors over the years. As a young attorney, it is hard to learn that those partners and managers that you looked up to do not actually have the same ethics, morals or professionalism as you believed. Luckily, two of my supervisors were amazing mentors to me and other colleagues in the immigration bar stepped up to assist when I needed guidance. The immigration bar is a group of lawyers that are extremely collegial and helpful and it makes it easy to practice in this area in challenging times because we know that we are all in this together. We all experience trying professional times and I have some great stories about overcoming these challenges, but you will have to wait for the book to learn about those. Through the rough times, I truly found my inner strength and understood that we sometimes need these tests in life to grow as people. I also realized through these experiences that there had to be a better way – a more collaborative approach to practicing law.
Please tell us about Garvish Immigration Law Group.
We are immigration lawyers and represent individuals and companies. Our niche area is representing international physicians and their hospital and medical practice employers nationwide. Many of these physicians serve U.S. citizens in underserved areas around the country and do a wonderful service for our nation.
I am proud of our happy clients and the trust our clients have in us even in the tough times. It is a very tumultuous time in immigration under the Trump administration. This administration is waging a war against all immigrants. There is much talk of a physical wall to keep immigrants out, but the invisible wall is already being constructed with the adoption of anti-immigrant policies, cessation of customer service at the agencies, ridiculous decisions that have no basis in law, filing fee increases and much more. We are committed to advocating for our clients, being creative and changing things up to get results even when the Trump “KEEP OUT” sign flashes brightly in our eyes.
What sets us apart? We believe in immigrants. We love immigrants. I love America and I know in my mind and my heart that we can succeed for our clients and we will not stop until we do. We have obtained hundreds of visa, green card and citizenship approval over the years and hope to receive thousands more in the years to come.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My travels as a child (with my parents of course). I spent my 10th birthday in the communist Soviet Union and in the next couple of years, I skateboarded down the Great Wall of China, swam in the Dead Sea, experienced apartheid and safari in South Africa and koalas down under. My mind was opened wide to this great world that we live in. I also saw how wonderful America was every time that I returned home. Welcoming diverse and talented immigrants to our wonderful country was what I was destined to do.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2970 Peachtree Rd. Suite 525
Atlanta, GA 30305 - Website: www.goimmigrationlaw.com
- Phone: 4042207615
- Email: egarvish@goimmigrationlaw.com
- Instagram: garvishimmigration
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/garvishimmigrationlaw/
Image Credit:
Ashley Berrie Photography
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