Heidi utilizes her unique blend of over 10 years of immigration experience and 5 years in labor & employment law to manage a wide array of business/employment-based immigration cases, assisting individuals and corporations. In particular, Heidi’s practice focuses on finding creative solutions for complex green card processes including EB-1A (extraordinary individuals), EB-1B (outstanding researchers) EB-1C (intracompany executives/managers) and EB-2 (National Interest Waiver). Heidi also specializes in strategizing on finding the best visa option for investors, entrepreneurs, and start-ups among L-1, E and O visas. An artist and violinist herself and a football mom, Heidi especially enjoys helping artists, performers and athletes to navigate and secure O and P visas.
More generally, Heidi has extensive experience in guiding client through various non-immigrant, employment-based visas (H, L, E, O, P, TNs), labor certification (PERM) processing, and permanent residence applications based on employment, as well as advising clients on corporate compliance issues. Heidi has assisted a broad range of clients from publicly traded companies and mid to small businesses and startups, in multiple industries including accounting, finance, IT, telecommunications, AI R&D, architecture, cosmetics, non-profits and manufacturing, as well as individual clients like international students, inventors, researchers, scientists, artists, musicians, entertainers, writers, chefs and athletes. In addition to her casework, Heidi also volunteers her time to present seminars and information sessions for global mobility advisors and HR specialists as well as universities to further assist the international community in the DC area and her alma mater, Duke.
Prior to joining Murray Osorio, Heidi was a partner at another boutique immigration firm, SW Law Group PC, for 10 years, responsible for overseeing all legal case work, client and personnel management as well as staff training. In addition to her immigration experience, she also served as a Labor & Employment associate at a major, international law firm, O’Melveny & Myers, assisting Fortune 500 companies in various labor & employment matters that were often featured in headline news. In particular, she was part of the legal team that helped to secure half a billion dollars in labor concessions during bankruptcy proceedings. She also assisted in teaching a comparative labor & employment seminar at the Tokyo campus of Temple University Law School.
Heidi has lived abroad for many years in Jordan, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and in Japan, personally witnessing the challenges that foreign nationals face in their efforts to immigrate to the U.S., and this experience has been the impetus for Heidi’s transition from employment to immigration law. Coming from a family of immigrants, Heidi is dedicated to providing effective and timely legal services for her clients to meet their various immigration needs, and regularly volunteers to present informational seminars/webinars to help professionals, leaders and talents to come, stay and live in the U.S.
Select Speaking Engagements
- “Options for Start Ups” (Discussion Leader) – AILA APAC Annual Conference 2023
- “How Can You Stay, Work and Live in the U.S.?” – Duke University 2023
- “Options for International Students after Graduation” – George Mason University 2022
- “Why Hire Foreign Nationals?” – DC SHRM 2022
- “Visual Artists’ Immigration Clinic” (Keynote Speaker) – Center for Art Law 2022
- “Wading through U.S. Immigration Laws for International Students” – Parsons School of Design 2014
Bar Admissions
- Washington D.C.
- California
Education
- 2001 Georgetown University Law Center, J.D. Magna Cum Laude
- 1997 Duke University, BA in History and Fine Arts (Departmental Distinction), Magna Cum Laude
Awards
- Phi Beta Kappa
- Sirenna WuDunn Scholarship
- Ashanti Women of Color Scholarship
- CALI-Excellence for the Future Award
- Andrew Hall Baker Scholar
Memberships
- Asia Pacific Chapter of AILA
- Treasurer
- Chair of Conference Committee
- DC SHRM
- Board of Directors
- VP of Government Affairs
- Korean American Bar Association – DC Chapter
- Board of Directors
- Program Officer
Languages
- Proficient in Korean
- Conversational Japanese
Interesting Fact
Heidi enjoys traveling around the world on various cruises with her husband and two sons. In fact, she has visited over 25 countries with her family. After retiring, she would like to paint and write romance novels.
