Legal Blogs and Updates

Connell Foley LLP is pleased to announce that effective January 1, 2021, the attorneys of specialty business immigration law firm Dornbaum & Peregoy LLC have joined Connell Foley to establish a new Corporate Immigration and Global Mobility Practice, as part of Connell Foley’s accomplished Labor and Employment Group.

The new Corporate Immigration and Global Mobility Practice is co-chaired by Partners Neil Dornbaum and Kathleen Peregoy, who are joined by Associates Abigail Walsh and Lucia Smalikova, as well as their team of paraprofessional and administrative staff. 

Dornbaum & Peregoy LLC is a nationally recognized group of lawyers who are among the most well-respected immigration practitioners in the United States. For over 30 years, the partners at Dornbaum & Peregoy LLC have advised corporate employers of all sizes, from entrepreneurial ventures to the Fortune 500. They offer clients a full array of employment-based immigration legal services, including both Immigrant Visas (“green cards”) and Nonimmigrant (temporary) Visas, as well as international transfers of key personnel. They also provide corporate clients with legal services in conducting due diligence and risk assessment for immigration purposes, including I-9 Employment Compliance/Employer Sanctions, and the unique immigration issues raised by mergers and acquisitions and other forms of corporate restructuring with regard to clearances required for the continued employment of foreign personnel after a reorganization.

Connell Foley and Dornbaum & Peregoy are both known for excellence and professionalism, and have well-recognized and established business practices that complement one another across multiple industries. The addition of the Corporate Immigration Practice at Connell Foley will significantly enhance and expand the service offerings to clients requiring business immigration services, particularly in the construction, biotechnology, chemical, higher education, engineering, environmental, financial services, insurance, investment banking, health care, pharmaceutical, power/utility, telecommunications, information technology (IT) and semiconductors sectors. 

Those clients presently using the immigration services provided by Dornbaum & Peregoy will now be positioned to also access the additional premier service offerings available at Connell Foley, including representation on labor and employment, corporate, commercial, construction, health care, real estate, tax and estate planning, and litigation, among other matters.

“We are extremely pleased to be welcoming the talented and knowledgeable attorneys from Dornbaum & Peregoy to Connell Foley,” said Philip F. McGovern Jr., Connell Foley’s Managing Partner. “The synergies between our two firms mean we will be able to offer clients this crucial element to their business practice as they seek to employ highly qualified individuals in a wide range of industries. This addition to our firm complements the high quality services of our Labor and Employment Group, and also brings a tremendous resource to our other business clients. We are excited to begin 2021 with the launch of this new practice.”

Neil Dornbaum of Dornbaum & Peregoy added “We could not be more pleased to be joining forces with Connell Foley. The firm has a long-standing reputation as one of the preeminent firms in the region. We look forward to extending to our existing clients the resources of a full-service firm like Connell Foley, and we are likewise excited to extend our specialty immigration services to Connell Foley’s clients.”

“We recognize the growing complexity of immigration law and the impact this has on businesses, and so we are thrilled that we can now provide this important resource for our clients,” said Michael Shadiack, Chair of Connell Foley’s Labor and Employment Group. “More importantly, the team from Dornbaum & Peregoy has a national reputation as elite corporate immigration counsel and will fit in seamlessly with our Group. Their offerings are a natural extension of our services and are a boon to our clients. We are excited to welcome Neil, Kathleen, Abigail and Lucia to Connell Foley.”

Neil S. Dornbaum is recognized as one of the most active and distinguished immigration attorneys in the State of New Jersey. As a partner at Dornbaum & Peregoy, he has limited his practice for over 30 years to immigration and nationality matters with a special emphasis on employment-based immigration. 

Neil is currently Co-chair of the Senior Lawyers Division of the New Jersey State Bar and is a member of the Editorial Board for New Jersey Lawyer. He has served as National Chair of the ABA’s Immigration Committee under the General Practice Section and was appointed to the ABA's Commission on Immigration. He has also chaired the New Jersey State Bar's Immigration Section and the American Immigration Lawyers' Association (New Jersey Chapter) and has served on their Board of Governors. He has acted as a liaison to the numerous governmental agencies including Department of Homeland Security (DHS); Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS); Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE); Customs and Border Protection (CBP); Department of Labor (DOL) and Department of State (DOS) and currently serves as a member of AILA's National Field Operations liaison committee and observer for AILA's National Employment and Verification Committee.  

Kathleen M. Peregoy is also recognized as a highly accomplished immigration attorney in the State of New Jersey. Formerly a Law Clerk in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division (Hon. William G. Bischoff, PJAD, 1983-1984) and a corporate attorney at several distinguished New Jersey firms (1984-1995), as a partner at Dornbaum & Peregoy, she has limited her practice for the past 30 years to immigration and nationality matters, focused on employment-based immigration, and international transfers. 

She concentrates her work in PERM Labor Certification, priority worker filings in the Extraordinary Ability, National Interest Waiver, Outstanding Researcher and Professor, and Corporate Transferee categories and other business classifications. She provides advice and consultation for numerous Fortune 500 and emerging technology companies in the following sectors: biotechnology, chemical, higher education, engineering (environmental/power), construction, financial services (accounting/auditing) insurance (and investment banks), health care, pharmaceuticals, information technology, telecommunications & semiconductors. In each case Ms. Peregoy assists these employers with domestic and international transfer of foreign personnel, including executives, managers, and other highly skilled professionals, and individuals of extraordinary and exceptional ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, and athletics.

Ms. Peregoy is a past Chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association, Immigration, Naturalization and Americanism Section and has been an active member of the New Jersey State Bar Foundation Co-Sponsorship Oversight Committee (Grants) since the 1990s, as well as Committee Chair (Customs and Border Protection) for the New Jersey Chapter of AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association) for the past two years.

Abigail J. Walsh has over 20 years’ experience in a wide range of immigration matters. She is a graduate of University of Pennsylvania (B.A. 1997), Temple University School of Law (J.D. 2000); member of International Law Journal (1995-1997); and New Jersey Federal Bankruptcy Court Judicial Internship (1996-1997). Ms. Walsh is admitted to the Bar in New Jersey and New York, and is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and immediate past Chair (and Executive Committee Member) of the NJ AILA Chapter. She currently serves on AILA's National USCIS Case Assistance Committee.

Lucia Smalikova has 10 years’ experience in a wide range of immigration matters, including nonimmigrant visas (H, L, TN, E) and labor certification applications, employment-based and self-sponsored immigrant petitions, as well as family-sponsored immigrant petitions. She is a graduate of University of Matej Bel, Slovakia (Master’s of Law 2008), and Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law New York (LL.M. June 2010). Ms. Smalikova is admitted to the Bar in New York, and is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, New York City Bar and New York State Bar.