Twenty-One Years, Countless Dreams: Immigration Attorney Amanda on the Cases That Changed Everything
26th October 2025
Date
Interviewee
Amanda Franklin
From Legal Assistant to Immigration Champion: Amanda's 21-Year Journey at Moore & Van Allen
Immigration Attorney Amanda | Moore & Van Allen Immigration Practice
When Amanda walked into Moore & Van Allen's immigration department 21 years ago, she wasn't sure she wanted to be a lawyer at all. Fresh out of college and headed to law school, she took a position as a legal assistant, thinking the legal profession seemed "really boring." One month later, everything changed.
"I was there maybe a month and was like, I love this. This is what I want to do," Amanda recalls from her base in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she now serves as a key attorney in one of the Southeast's largest law firms.
Finding Home in Immigration Law: Moore & Van Allen's Boutique Practice
What began as temporary work became a calling. Amanda progressed from legal assistant to paralegal, then seized an unusual opportunity when Charlotte opened its own law school. The practice leader made her an offer that law students dream about: attend school while working, with a guaranteed position waiting at graduation.
"Getting a job out of law school versus having the job and just needing the degree," she explains, was an opportunity too good to pass up.
Today, Moore & Van Allen stands as one of the Southeast's preeminent law firms, with nearly 400 attorneys spanning multiple practice areas. The firm's reputation in finance is particularly strong, reflecting Charlotte's status as a major banking center. Within this large corporate structure, Amanda's immigration practice operates as what she describes as "a boutique immigration firm in a large law firm."
This unique positioning offers significant advantages. The immigration team maintains specific knowledge while accessing the firm's broader resources through the Global Services initiative, which brings together attorneys in tax, immigration, employment law, and corporate matters to serve entrepreneurs and businesses establishing operations in the United States.
The Power of Saying Yes to Risk
Amanda's advice to aspiring immigration attorneys reflects her own unconventional path: "Don't be afraid to fail."
She elaborates on what might seem like counterintuitive guidance. Building a client base from scratch requires vulnerability. "You have to be willing to risk embarrassing yourself a little bit, putting yourself out there. Don't be afraid to fail. Don't be afraid of a no, because a no will one day turn into a yes."
Before finding her home in immigration law, Amanda tested other practice areas, working in mergers and acquisitions and insurance defense. Neither resonated. "This is absolutely not for me," she remembers thinking. The exploration taught her an essential lesson: “find work that resonates with who I am as a person and what I want to do every day."
Her path differed from the traditional trajectory. She was older when she entered law school, older still as an associate. "It's not the traditional path, but it certainly was the right path for me," she reflects.
Why Immigration Matters: Stories That Stay With You
Among the countless cases Amanda has handled over two decades, one stands out. A Slovakian company had developed a specialized welding school, training craftspeople in techniques that were creating international demand. The owners saw an opportunity: this expertise was lacking in the United States.
"They said, we want to open up a school in the U.S. but also be a commercial business that puts out a product as well," Amanda recalls. The challenge was significant. They had limited capital and needed comprehensive support beyond just immigration advice.
Through Moore & Van Allen's Global Services team, Amanda helped the entrepreneurs navigate the complex process of establishing their US operations, securing investor visas for the company owners, and bringing in trainers to transfer their specialized knowledge to American workers. The school partnered with major industries like automotive manufacturing and fertilizer production, anywhere precision welding was critical.
The culmination came at a dinner with the investors and family members, a multilingual celebration that captured the human dimension of immigration work. "We were having a six way conversation, translating all the languages, but we all knew what we were talking about and it was so lovely," Amanda remembers.
The business thrived and evolved. Today, they've grown to the point where they no longer need to bring in workers from abroad. They've successfully infused a critical skill into the US labor market. "That's such a success story because they really brought their dream and vision to life," Amanda says.
Entrepreneurs: The Heart of American Innovation
These entrepreneurial clients hold a special place in Amanda's practice. While she values her corporate clients and the talent they bring to the United States, entrepreneurs represent something different.
"They are really bringing their dream to the U.S. They have an idea, and believe that it could be a really successful venture and it's not always about making money for them. They want to make money, but it's not always about that."
She points to another client building the first hyperloop in Colorado as an example of the innovative thinking immigrants bring. "That type of infusion of ideas and inspiration in the U.S. market in general is something that we want to hold onto," she emphasizes.
The current political climate troubles her. She's witnessing potential entrepreneurs reconsidering whether the United States is the right destination for their innovations. "I think that's unfortunate because so many incredible new technologies have been born out of immigrants starting businesses here in the U.S."
The Immigration System Nobody Understands
Ask Amanda what she would change about the current immigration system, and her answer is immediate: raise the green card quotas.
"We haven't raised the quota in 30 years," she points out. The world has transformed dramatically since those numbers were established, yet the system remains frozen in time. People who are following every rule, maintaining legal status, building lives and families in the United States face waits of five, ten, even twenty years for permanent residency.
The fundamental premise behind the quotas, she argues, no longer makes sense. Family unification is supposed to be a cornerstone of US immigration policy, yet spouses of lawful permanent residents can wait years in line for green cards. "That seems to go against what we're saying is family unification," she notes.
Beyond outdated quotas, she identifies a deeper problem: fundamental public misunderstanding of how the immigration system works. "If there was adequate education, and people really were invested in learning and understanding how the system works, I think people would be appalled," she says.
If Americans understood the reality faced by those navigating the legal immigration system, doing everything right and still waiting decades, she believes attitudes would shift. "We should absolutely work to try and improve the system so that we can keep those people, and they want to be here."
Technology, Policy, and the Fight for Talent
Recent policy developments such as new proclamations targeting H1B visas, including a proposed $100,000 entry fee and changes to the lottery system that favor higher-wage positions, seem designed to impact technology companies despite their public importance to the current administration.
"There's a real disconnect in what the public is facing and the actual policies that are coming out," she observes.
While she acknowledges fraud exists in the H1B system, the proposed changes may hurt smaller employers and researchers more than large technology companies. "The big tech giants, they'll pay the fee, and raise the wages because they can," she explains. Meanwhile, cancer researchers and other specialized professionals working in fields that traditionally offer lower salaries will face reduced lottery odds.
On artificial intelligence in legal practice, Amanda takes a balanced view. She sees it as a powerful tool that attorneys must embrace for efficiency, but not as a replacement for legal judgment and human connection.
"ChatGPT missed all of this," she says, describing a common scenario where clients consult AI for immigration advice. The generic responses fail to account for individual circumstances and nuances. "The element of humanness needs to still remain in the everyday practice of what we do."
Technology, Policy, and the Fight for Talent
Recent policy developments such as new proclamations targeting H1B visas, including a proposed $100,000 entry fee and changes to the lottery system that favor higher-wage positions, seem designed to impact technology companies despite their public importance to the current administration.
"There's a real disconnect in what the public is facing and the actual policies that are coming out," she observes.
While she acknowledges fraud exists in the H1B system, the proposed changes may hurt smaller employers and researchers more than large technology companies. "The big tech giants, they'll pay the fee, and raise the wages because they can," she explains. Meanwhile, cancer researchers and other specialized professionals working in fields that traditionally offer lower salaries will face reduced lottery odds.
On artificial intelligence in legal practice, Amanda takes a balanced view. She sees it as a powerful tool that attorneys must embrace for efficiency, but not as a replacement for legal judgment and human connection.
"ChatGPT missed all of this," she says, describing a common scenario where clients consult AI for immigration advice. The generic responses fail to account for individual circumstances and nuances. "The element of humanness needs to still remain in the everyday practice of what we do."
Advice for the Road Ahead
To fellow immigration attorneys navigating an increasingly complex landscape, Amanda offers practical wisdom born from experience.
Be direct with clients about expectations and timelines. Build in safeguards with advice that anticipates complications. Most importantly, maintain flexibility. "Have a plan B, have a plan C, have a plan D," she advises. When one visa category closes, practitioners need to dig deeper into clients' circumstances to identify alternative pathways.
Above all, remember the human element. "In the corporate immigration world, it’s important to remember this is not just another employee of the company who needs a visa..They’re real people. They have families. They’re uprooting their lives to be here and they are relying on you to make sure it happens.
Compassion and humanity matter more than ever in these challenging times. "Just don't forget your compassion and your humanity when you're scratching your head and so frustrated about another thing that the administration has done."
Twenty-one years after walking into that first legal assistant position uncertain about her future, Amanda has found her calling at the intersection of law, human dreams, and international talent. From the welding school founders who built a thriving American business to the hyperloop innovators pushing technological boundaries, she's helped turn aspirations into reality.
Her message resonates beyond immigration law: find work that feels like home, don't fear failure, and never lose sight of the human beings behind every case file. In a field often dominated by bureaucracy and frustration, Amanda reminds us that immigration law, at its best, is about people building better futures.
As she faces mounting challenges from policy changes and system limitations, her commitment remains unwavering. The entrepreneurs, the researchers, the families waiting years for reunification all deserve attorneys who see them as more than case numbers, who fight for their dreams with both legal expertise and genuine compassion.
That's the kind of lawyer Amanda became when she discovered, just one month into that first job, that immigration law felt like home.
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