Biography

Avila Zepp is a multilingual immigration attorney with extensive experience in family- and employment-based immigration matters.

She counsels clients around the world – including families and individuals, Fortune 500 companies, startups and nonprofits – on immigration strategy and has experience drafting and reviewing filings before the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Department of State and Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE). Avila has prepared and filed legal memoranda, motions and appellate briefs with USCIS, the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO), Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) and the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Further, she has drafted applications and petitioner support letters for employment-based immigrant and nonimmigrant matters, including National Interest Waivers and Extraordinary Ability (O-1), Specialty Occupation (H-1B), Exchange Visitor (J-1), Religious Worker (R-1), Intra-Company Transferees (L-1A/L-1B), Extraordinary Ability (E-B1), Treaty Trader (E-1/E-2), Nonimmigrant Trainee (H-3), visas pursuant to the North American Free Trade Agreement (TN) and temporary visas for business and tourism (B-1/B-2).

Avila has extensive experience guiding families and individuals through consular processing and attaining lawful permanent residence in the U.S. through marriage- and family-based petitions. She has represented individuals seeking asylum, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), self-petitions as victims of criminal activity (U visa), and under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and a variety of humanitarian-based visas. Avila also counsels individuals through the naturalization process to become citizens of the United States.

In addition, Avila has prior experience in criminal law, which enables her to better advise clients on how criminal issues might affect a given immigration case.

Background

Prior to joining Armstrong Teasdale, Avila was in private practice at an immigration firm in Florida.

She has prior experience as a judicial staff attorney in the 13th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida, and has also held summer associate positions in Lake City, Florida, and Boston, Massachusetts, during which she reviewed and drafted contracts, briefs and letters in support of a variety of immigration, employment, corporate and local government-related matters. Early in her career, she worked as an immigration paralegal and Spanish interpreter for a law firm in Boston.

Education

  • University of Florida College of Law  (J.D., cum laude, 2017)
    • Book Awards for outstanding academic performance in Employment Discrimination, Counseling and Negotiation, Immigration Law
    • Harry F. Goodmark Employment Law Merit Scholarship
    • University of Florida Journal of Law and Public Policy (Executive Research Editor)
  • Boston College  (B.A., 2012)
    • Theology and Communications
    • Bellarmine Law Society Board
    • Golden Key Honor Society
  • Universidad Carlos III de Madrid  (2011)

Admissions

  • Missouri
  • Florida

Professional Activities

  • Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) (Pathfinder Program, 2023)
  • American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA)
  • Florida Association of Women Lawyers (FAWL)

Charitable and Civic Involvement

  • Big Brothers Big Sisters
  • Bay Area Legal Services

Languages

  • Spanish
  • Portuguese
Contact Us
  • Worldwide
  • Boston, MA
  • Chicago, IL
  • Denver, CO
  • Dublin, Ireland
  • Edwardsville, IL
  • Jefferson City, MO
  • Kansas City, MO
  • Las Vegas, NV
  • London, England
  • Miami, FL
  • New York, NY
  • Orange County, CA
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Princeton, NJ
  • Salt Lake City, UT
  • St. Louis, MO
  • Washington, D.C.
  • Wilmington, DE
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Wilmington, DE
1007 North Market Street
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