Immigration attorney Martin Lester has joined Baker Donelson’s Chattanooga office as of counsel.
Lester represents businesses and individuals in immigration matters, including E-2 petitions to start or purchase businesses, L-1A petitions for foreign businesses opening new offices or transferring executives and managers to the U.S., H-1B and TN petitions for U.S. employers hiring workers in specialty occupations, PERM petitions for U.S. businesses seeking immigrant visas for employees, EB-2 petitions with National Interest Waivers for skilled individuals seeking permanent residence in the U.S. and a range of family-based visa petitions and naturalization applications.
As an active member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Lester has served in leadership positions at both the local and national level.
He is the immediate past chair of AILA’s Military Committee, where he helped to lead a nationwide program that provided pro bono immigration services to service members and military families.
Lester serves on AILA’s National Ethics Committee, which provides resources focused on the ethics issues members face in immigration law practice. He is a frequent speaker at AILA conferences.
Before joining Baker Donelson, Lester practiced immigration law and criminal defense with firms in Tennessee and Florida.
He also served as a public defender in Virginia for nearly a decade.
Lester’s criminal jury trial experience includes multiple death penalty cases in Florida’s First Judicial Circuit. He is currently a member of the Criminal Justice Act Panel for the Eastern District of Tennessee.
Lester has earned the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Attorney for Justice Recognition every year since 2018.
Source: Baker Donelson