Baker Donelson has elected 11 new shareholders, including Melanie Walker of the firm’s Chattanooga office.
Walker is a member of the firm’s Global Immigration Group. She dedicates a large portion of her practice to business immigration, which includes counseling international and domestic employers on immigration compliance, strategies for hiring and transferring and retaining foreign national employees.
Walker also assists foreign companies with establishing and expanding operations in the U.S. and works with religious organizations to bring over ministers and other religious workers from abroad.
In addition, Walker counsels individual clients with their family-based immigration needs and assists individuals with documenting complex financial transactions to evidence their lawful source of funds used for investment in U.S. enterprises.
Walker also has experience managing the development of EB-5 projects with other professionals in a variety of disciplines to develop immigration-compliant offering documents.
A magna cum laude graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law, Walker is a member of the American, Georgia and Tennessee Bar Associations and of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. In 2017, she was recognized as a top author on the topic of immigration in JD Supra’s Readers’ Choice Awards.
Prior to joining Baker Donelson, Walker was a federal law clerk to the Hon. Curtis L. Collier in the Eastern District of Tennessee. As an active member of the Chattanooga community, Walker supports the pro bono immigration efforts of the International Refugee Assistance Project and regularly volunteers with Ronald McDonald House, Siskin Children’s Institute and other local organizations dedicated to helping children.
“Melanie is a dynamic professional who’s committed to the firm and to superior client service, and I look forward to seeing her continued success as a shareholder,” says Russell Gray, managing shareholder of Baker Donelson’s Chattanooga office.
This year’s class of new shareholders is comprised of more than 50 percent women, making it the fourth consecutive year women have made up nearly or more than half of the firm’s newly elected shareholders.
Source: Baker Donelson