Melissa Harms Email and Phone Number

Melissa Harms has been practicing immigration law for over twenty years. She began her legal career practicing employment law at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker before joining an immigration firm to combine her interest in legal advocacy with her desire to affect social change. She has spent the past nearly two decades building and growing Harms Immigration Law.Harms Immigration Law is a strategic legal partner for Fortune 500 companies, large public universities, private research entities, as well as start-up ventures, providing counsel for her clients on all facets of immigration law. Clients include businesses in the technology, biotechnology, wine and spirits, real estate investment, marketing and public relations industries, among others. Melissa has been an active voice in championing and growing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) programs at her clients' organizations and with her colleagues. She is an active volunteer in her community working extensively with local groups to bring sports to underserved youth as well as offering pro bono services and volunteering with local immigrant communities.Melissa has taught courses on immigration law through both California State University and the University of California for human resource professionals. She has served in many leadership roles with the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) during her twenty-year membership and currently serves as the Government Collaboration Chair on the AILA national Technology and Innovation committee. She also routinely speaks on immigration law at numerous local and national venues, including AILA national conferences, the Worldwide Employers Relocation Council annual conference, the Bay Area Mobility Management annual conferences, the National Association of International Educators (NAFSA) national and regional conferences, Employers Advisory Council, the Marin County Bar Association, UC Davis Wine Law symposia, and has been interviewed by the BBC as an expert on immigration issues. Melissa graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor of Arts in History and Public Policy and earned her law degree from the University of Georgia, where she served on the Editorial Board of the Georgia Law Review. She spent a year as a visiting scholar at the University of California, Davis School of Law.Specialties: Immigration Law