Nicole A. Kersey ("Nici")
Managing Director

nkersey@kerseyimmigration.com

Nicole A. ("Nici") Kersey is an attorney whose practice has been dedicated to employment-based immigration, with a focus on the Form I-9, E-Verify, and related immigration compliance issues. Ms. Kersey partners with law firms, businesses, and other U.S. employers to provide advice, project management, and consulting services to organizations of all sizes to help them avoid civil and criminal penalties, as well as ancillary damage to reputation, caused by weaknesses in their immigration-related hiring and record-keeping practices.

Nici also has experience working with employers to procure nonimmigrant and immigrant visas for foreign national employees. She has worked with individuals to obtain, extend, amend, and change nonimmigrant status and has assisted clients to obtain lawful permanent residence in the U.S. through applications for labor certification, petitions for outstanding researchers and aliens of extraordinary ability, and international manager petitions.

Dedicated to public service, Nici has done extensive pro bono work for arts organizations and families of U.S. soldiers. 

EDUCATION

• J.D., University of Virginia School of Law

• B.A., DePauw University

ADMISSIONS

• Admitted to practice in Georgia, Nici practices exclusively immigration law

AFFILIATIONS

• National Association of Professional Background Screeners

            Chair, Immigration Subcommittee, Government Relations Committee
            Co-Chair, Government Information Verification Systems Subcommittee, Best Practices Committee

• American Immigration Lawyers Association

            Theatrical Outfit, Board of Trustees (2007-12)
            Co-Chair, Gala Committee (2011-12)
            Secretary of the Board (2009-11)

• Metropolitan Atlanta Arts and Culture Coalition (MAAC) - Arts Leaders of Metro Atlanta (2008-09)

            Steering Committee (2009-10)

PRESENTATIONS

• "I-9/E-Verify For Experts" - ILW.COM (April 2012)
• "Electronic I-9 Solutions: Jackpot or Crackpot?" - NAPBS Annual Conference (March 2012) 
• "How to Avoid Hiring Unauthorized Workers: Beyond the SSN Trace" - NAPBS Mid-Year Conference (October 17, 2011)
• "Basic I-9 Training for HR, Managers, and Legal Professionals" - Seyfarth Shaw, LLP Webinar (September 27, 2011)
• "Workforce Authorization Compliance: Beyond the Driver's License and Social Security Card"  - Houston Ship Channel (September 15, 2011)
• "Back to the I-9 Basics"  - Guardian by LawLogix Webinar Series (September 7 & 21, 2011)
• "Advanced Business Immigration Strategies in Troubled Times" - ILW.COM (May 13, 2010)
• "Immigration: The Selective Melting Pot" - University of Georgia School of Law, Working in the Public Interest Conference (February 27, 2010)
• "E-Verify and Immigration Compliance: What Every Employer Must Know" - LexisNexis Webinar (September 30, 2009)
• "E-Verify for Federal Contractors" - Seyfarth Shaw, LLP Webinar (September 24, 2009)
• "The Latest on E-Verify & Worksite Enforcement" - LexisNexis Webinar (June 25, 2009)
• "E-Verify and Form I-9: Updates and Notes from the Trenches" - LexisNexis Webinar (February 26, 2009)
• "E-Verify: Pros, Cons, and What Every Government Contractor Needs to Know" - Department of Energy Contractor Attorneys' Association (DOECAA) conference (Fall 2008) 

PUBLICATIONS

• "The Essentials of Electronic I-9 Compliance," Practical Law Company's Labor and Employment (September 2012)
• "What Fried Okra, F.A.O. Schwartz, Staplers, and Immigration Have in Common," www.nationofimmigrators.com (guest post, May2012)
• "Immigration, Cheesy Style," www.nationofimmigrators.com (guest post, September 2011)
• "Back to the "Basics": Who is the Employer for I-9 Purposes?", (guest post, August 2011)
• Co-author, "No Skating on Thin ICE: Using Enforcement Preparedness Policies to Prevent Drowning in Frigid Immigration Waters," AILA's Immigration Practice Pointers (2010-11)
• Associate Editor, Immigration - Human Resources Guide (West)
• Co-Author, "Minimizing Risk in an Era of Increased Immigration Enforcement: I-9s, E-Verify, and Immigration Compliance Policies," HR Advisor (September/October 2010)
• Guest Blogger - The I-9 and E-Verify Blog
• "Misplaced Opposition: Immigration Incentives of the Proposed Social Security Totalization Agreement with Mexico," * Georgetown Immigration Law Journal (Fall 2007)

ACCOLADES

• Recognized as a leading lawyer for Immigration in Georgia in the 2009 -2012 editions of Chambers USA: America's Leading Business Lawyers
• Seyfarth Shaw. LLP Pro Bono Team of the Year (2008); Associate of the Year (2011)