Biography
Joey concentrates his practice on advising individuals and companies establishing businesses in the United States and internationally. He relies on his international background, prior corporate experience, and linguistic skills to advise his domestic and foreign clients on their operations and day-to-day challenges. His prior experience serving as General Counsel and Director of Operations for a company in the oil and gas industry enhances his ability to fully understand the business environments in which his clients operate. Joey has lived and traveled extensively in the Middle East, and has assisted clients in the Middle East and Africa, particularly in Angola, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Liberia, Morocco, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, and the United Arab Emirates.
A seasoned immigration lawyer, Joey has a significant amount of experience assisting multinational corporations in all aspects of the immigration process, including immigration related discrimination practices and the challenges surrounding foreign workers when negotiating mergers and acquisitions, and other corporate restructurings. He works with businesses, large and small, from a vast range of industry sectors to develop streamlined preparation of visa petitions and permanent residency applications, as well as to implement efficient and thorough employment verification compliance programs. Joey helps employers acquire employment-based visas for key employees to work in the United States. His experience includes obtaining temporary, nonimmigrant work visas in the E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, L-1, TN, J-1, Q-1, O-1, and Blanket L categories, and permanent immigrant visas (commonly referred to as “green cards”) based on the multinational executive and manager, investment, PERM labor certification, national interest waiver, extraordinary person, professional employee, and professor/researcher strategies.
In the first half of his legal career, Joey was trained as a litigator and defended matters involving complex business issues, class actions, labor and employment, and tort actions. He continues to counsel domestic and foreign clients, including Fortune 500 companies, and regularly handles complex disputes involving simultaneous litigation in several countries, and multiple jurisdictions, cultures and legal systems. He has wide-ranging experience in issues relating to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Joey is fluent in English, French and Arabic, having studied the law in all three languages. He served as an Adjunct Faculty at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, Lebanon and its satellite campus in New York, and has taught international transactions and compliance courses. Joey also serves as Lebanon’s Honorary Consul in Birmingham, Alabama.
Areas of Practice
- Criminal Law
- Family Law
- Immigration Law
- Personal Injury
- Business Law
Bar Admissions
- Alabama, 2006
Education
The University of Alabama School of Law, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
- LL.M. – 2005
University of Minnesota Law School, Minneapolis, Minnesota
- LL.M. – 1999
La Sagesse University Faculty of Law, Beirut
- LL.B. – 1998
Published Works
- “INSIGHT: Drastic Times Call for Careful M&A; Immigration Due Diligence,” Bloomberg Law (May 2019)
- “USCIS Clarifies: Immigrants Cannot Establish Good Moral Character if Involved in State Licensed Marijuana-Related Activities” (May 2019)
- “Updated Syria Advisory Warns Petroleum Shippers on Syria and Iran Sanctions” (March 2019)
Pro Bono Activities
- Former Member of the Pastoral Council, St. Elias Maronite Catholic Church, Birmingham, Alabama
- Former member of the Advisory Board of the Alabama Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
Honors
- The Best Lawyers in America® award 2023
- Honorary Consul of Lebanon for Alabama
- Adjunct Faculty (International Transactions), Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon
- Adjunct Faculty (U.S. Compliance to U.S. Institutions), Lebanese American University, New York, New York
- Lecture to EMBA students on the importance of the rule of law in emerging markets, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon
- Former Member of the Pastoral Council, St. Elias Maronite Catholic Church, Birmingham, Alabama
Classes & Seminars
- Adjunct Faculty (International Transactions), Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon
- Adjunct Faculty (U.S. Compliance to U.S. Institutions), Lebanese American University, New York, New York
- Lecture to EMBA students on the importance of the rule of law in emerging markets, Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon
- Immigration Presentation for National Career Development Week, University of Alabama at Huntsville (November 2018)
- “The State of Immigration Law,” Alabama Association of Colleges and Employers Annual Conference (July 2018)
- Update on Immigration Law,” ALSHRM Conference, Birmingham, Alabama (May 2017)
- Immigration Compliance: Best Practices in a Rigorous Enforcement Environment (August 2019)
Past Positions
- Honorable Tom King, Jr., Jefferson County Circuit Judge, Law Clerk
Representative Matters
- Regularly and successfully represented employers in obtaining or extending the E-1/2 (treaty trader/investor), E-3 (Australian professional specialty), H-1B (Specialty Occupations), L-1A/B (Intra-company transferee), and O (Extraordinary Ability) visas for their employees.
- Regularly and successfully led the immigration related work during and following the acquisition of a number of well recognized companies and involving hundreds of impacted employees.
- Regularly and successfully assisted employees in obtaining immigrant visas in the EB-1, EB-2 or EB-3 categories.
- Regularly and successfully families in immigrating to the United States through change of status or consular processing.
- Successfully led the refinancing of several multimillion-dollar loans (for one of the largest foods and beverage providers), a task that required the expertise of lawyers in Alabama, Georgia, and Michigan.
- Successfully led the defense of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, with ramifications in several other countries (Angola, Lebanon, and Liberia) and successfully disqualified plaintiffs’ main expert, obtained the dismissal of plaintiffs’ claims, and a judgment for the defendants.
- Led a team of lawyers in a tender involving a middle eastern country (picking a local agent, conducting due diligence, and reviewing and executing needed agreements, etc.).
- Obtained the dismissal of a client from a class action claiming more than $2 billion in damages and protected the dismissal on appeal. The other defendants later settled the claims for more than $400 million.
- Regularly and successfully defended one of the largest railroad companies in employment law claims, breach of contract, indemnity claims, insurance coverage issues, and property disputes in more than 15 different U.S. states.