Andrés López
BIOGRAPHY
Mr. Andrés López is the owner and founder of the Lopez Law Firm, PLLC, practicing in all areas of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Law. He is a North Carolina State Bar Board Certified Specialist in Immigration Law. Being an immigrant himself, from Medellin, Colombia, Mr. López is a passionate, committed, and enthusiastic advocate, having grown up and lived in various diverse immigrant communities in the United States. He believes in helping the individuals and families achieve their unique American dreams which collectively emphasize maintaining family unity, creating businesses, obtaining education, while weaving their cultural heritages into the rich rubric of the American society. Attorney López understands and respects his clients’ desires of having a direct relationship with their attorney, and he prides himself on his accessibility and quality of work.
EXPERTISE
Mr. Lopez has extensive experience practicing removal defense for individuals who appear before various immigration courts including the Charlotte Immigration Court, and those located in Atlanta and in Lumpkin, Georgia (Stewart Detention Center).
Mr. Lopez has represented an asylum seeker in a case of national importance (Matter of A-B-). In 2018, the Attorney General of the United States reversed the order from the Board of Immigration Appeals that granted her asylum. Mr. Lopez assisted Ms. A.B. with the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies and others at the appellate level to seek reversal of the previous administration’s efforts at restricting asylum in the context of gender-based violence. The Attorney General under the Biden administration vacated the decision in 2021, thereby allowing Ms. A.B. to be granted asylum.
Mr. Lopez also assists individuals and families with family-based immigration strategies, whether it be adjustment of status, provisional waivers, U Visas, special juvenile immigrant visas, and more. He also enjoys assisting businesses with employment-based immigration needs. Recently, Mr. Lopez has been involved from the beginning on behalf of an immigrant minor, where the government wrongfully denied his petition for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status. With the help of Attorney Brad Banias from Wasden Banias Immigration Litigation, Mr. Perez Perez was able to overturn the denial at the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Perez Perez v. Cuccinelli, No 18-1330 (4th Cir. 2020), which held en banc that the government had violated immigration law by failing to apply it as written.
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EDUCATION
He graduated from Georgetown University in 2000 with a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service, majoring in International Economics. He received his law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is licensed to practice law in North Carolina since 2007. He is admitted to the United States Western and Eastern District of North Carolina, as well as the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
He is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), where he was elected to serve a three-year term from 2024-2027 as Director on the AILA Board of Governors, which oversees AILA with a membership of nearly 17,000 immigration attorneys across the country and world. Previously, he has served as Secretary, Vice Chair, and Chapter Chair from 2017 to 2024 for the AILA Carolinas, a group of nearly 500 immigration attorneys in the Carolinas. He has also been the AILA Carolinas Chapter liaison to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Charlotte, as well as the assistant AILA liaison to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Charlotte. He also served on the Board of Directors for the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy since 2020, where he has volunteered his time with its Immigrant Outreach Project in the past. He has served as the Chair to the Mecklenburg County Bar Immigration Section and has also handled pro bono cases on behalf of other organizations such as CLINIC.
Bailey Farrin
BIOGRAPHY
An attorney at The Lopez Law Firm, PLLC, Bailey Farrin practices law in all areas of U.S. Immigration Law. Having grown up in Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1960’s, Ms. Farrin personally witnessed fierce struggles for individual’s civil rights, and such struggles deeply affected her. Being such a witness ultimately led her to fight for noncitizens and their rights.
EXPERTISE
Licensed to practice law in both North Carolina and California, Ms. Farrin now defends individuals in removal proceedings in immigration court, including the Charlotte Immigration Court. Ms. Farrin also assists individuals with family-based immigration strategies, whether it be adjustment of status, provisional waivers, U Visas, special juvenile immigrant visas, and more. Ms. Farrin enjoys developing a comprehensive strategy for the client in his or her initial consultation to cover all the bases to ensure the most complete and creative way to accomplish the client’s goals.
Ms. Farrin also brings her skills in other legal practice areas to The Lopez Law Firm. She practiced civil litigation and family law in Los Angeles County, California from 1990 to 1995. She has practiced since 1995 in the following areas of law in North Carolina: personal injury, family, custody and child support criminal defense and traffic defense.
EDUCATION
In 1982 Ms. Farrin graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. While at Trinity, Ms. Farrin studied Spanish in Madrid, Spain. After college graduation, she taught English and Spanish for three years in public schools in Arkansas, Connecticut, and New York.
Ms. Farrin graduated with honors from Duke University School of Law in 1990.
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Ms. Farrin is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA). She currently serves as the Chair for North Carolina Advocates for Justice Hispanic/Latino Interest Attorneys.
Ms. Farrin has volunteered giving free consultations and pro bono service to clients of El Centro Hispano in Durham, North Carolina from 2006 to 2021. She is a member of the Iglesia de Buen Pastor in Durham, North Carolina. Ms. Farrin has volunteered with Church World Services in Durham with its Central American Minors Program and its naturalization clinics. Ms. Farrin has served on the board of the Episcopal Farmworkers Ministry in Dunn, North Carolina.
Ms. Farrin has two adult daughters and enjoys playing tennis and dancing.