Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Immigration

Senior Counsel

Dawn Lurie is a Senior Counsel member in the Immigration Practice Group of Seyfarth Shaw LLP's Washington D.C. office.  Dawn co-chairs the firm’s Immigration & Compliance specialty team and drives the management of the practice, promoting process oriented offerings to clients. For years, Dawn has assisted clients in understanding and influencing immigration regulations and policy. By leveraging political insights and long term relationships with government leaders, she is able to effectuate change for her clients. Companies look to Dawn to deliver seasoned, strategic counsel as they navigate I-9 and immigration compliance legal risk in an increasingly difficult climate.

Dawn’s knowledge and experience are relied upon by some of the world's largest companies as they contend with a host of compliance-based challenges. She counts herself among a small number of practitioners nationally who have dedicated their practice exclusively to I-9 worksite enforcement and immigration compliance matters. Dawn is known for her ability to keep her clients ahead of impending government enforcement trends, and adds tremendous value to client representations. Her inbox is constantly full of novel queries involving electronic I-9s, I-9 violations, and remote employees or E-Verify structuring and job application language regarding visa sponsorships. Dawn’s resourceful solutions reduce pain points and aim to make her client’s less interesting to government investigators.

Dawn routinely assists clients in immigration-related government I-9 related audits, Department of Justice, Immigrant and Employee Rights (IER) office discrimination investigations, as well as internal assessments, including electronic I-9 due diligence reviews. She provides proactive counseling on I-9 hiring practices, including immigration-related discrimination and E-Verify TNC process and monitoring and compliance matters. She defends employers in civil and criminal workplace enforcement actions, conducting immigration-related internal investigations and due diligence and analysis of I-9 issues in mergers, acquisitions and other corporate transactions. She also is involved in post-closing remediation initiatives. Dawn is consistently able to negotiate favorable settlements and resolve even the most adversarial of matters because of her solution-oriented approach and her ability to work cohesively with government agencies. Dawn is relied on by C-suites as well as general counsel offices for routine compliance advice and guidance on staffing company agreements, remote hire solutions, or identity theft investigations.

The firm’s commitment to operating efficiencies prompted Dawn to develop several cost-efficient alternative fee compliance products, including an innovative mock I-9 Notice of Inspection and a Form I-9 360-degree compliance checkup. These customized solutions reduce very real risk and help avoid worksite crises. Clients appreciate that Dawn is no stranger to the trenches, providing intentional advice to navigate difficult situations and minimize disruption for companies when they do arise. 

It's critical in today's high-stakes, compliance-focused environment to offer easily digestible and interactive training. Dawn is constantly improving Seyfarth's training suite in ways that focus less on an information "data dump" and more on process and dialogue. She believes there is only so much one can retain during an I-9 webinar, without a broader understanding of the implications of noncompliance and a long-term commitment to immigration compliance by the company.

Dawn also assists federal government contractors in meeting the Federal Acquisition Rule (FAR) mandatory E-Verify compliance rules and flow-down clause, and also serves as third-party auditor. She represents colleges and universities with foreign student SEVIS/SEVP-related issues, and mentors others in this niche area. Finally, Dawn has represented foreign individuals seeking to immigrate through the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program since the early 1990s. Dawn's been preparing EB-5 investor petitions for almost 25 years and can assist in exploring this alternative to conventional financing and never represents more than one party in an EB-5 matter. In the EB-5 space she is now primarily focused on related compliance, litigation work. Dawn is particularly interested in EB-5 project and regional center compliance, which will continue to occupy center stage as EB-5 related litigation increases due to the challenges the program is facing.

American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) National Verification and Documentation Committee

Society for Human Resource Management, Member

Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics, Member

JD, American University, Washington College of LawBA, Pennsylvania State University