Dedicated Immigration Attorney & Paralegals Committed to Your Success

French Legal, PLLC began as the Law Office of Dahlia M. French in 1994. For over 30 years, the law firm has provided sound legal advice and services to individuals, companies, organizations, colleges, universities, K-12 programs, and religious denominations. Our legal services focus on the academic and medical communities and extends to immigration issues that affect these communities, including family immigration, employment and business immigration, citizenship, waivers, reinstatement, and international taxation.

The law firm's initial focus was on asylum defense (in removal/deportation proceedings), academic immigration and medical immigration. While it transitioned away from immigration court representation, due to increased engagement in acadmic and medical immigration, the law firm remains committed to providing assistance to persons in immigration court, even when direct representation is not possible.

Due to workload demands, French Legal does not provide EB-5, E-1, or E-2 services, but we have a referral list of highly qualified attorneys attorney who provide those services in various languages.

*Meaning of Hummingbird & Hibiscus: Hummingbirds symbolize goodwill, loyalty & intelligence, and Hibiscus flowers symbolize hospitality and respect. French Legal strives to always respect their clients and the federal agencies they practice before, while maintaining a professional legal practice where intelligence, loyalty, and goodwill are prioritized. And, of course, we want our clients to see US immigration as a hospitable environment, despite the stress of their immigration journey.

Dahlia French is Owner and Managing Attorney of French Legal. She arrived in the USA as an F-1 in 1990, received her JD in 1993, completed coursework towards an LLM in Banking Law (1996), and received an LLM in Health Law (with Healthcare Compliance certification) in 2021. She practices immigration and nonresident alien tax law, with a bit of healthcare compliance advising on the side.

Dahlia was in private practice for 12 years before moving into academia to lead business and employment immigration at the University of Virginia, Vanderbilt University, and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. In addition to directing immigration offices, Dahlia served as DSO/ARO/RO and as I-9/E-Verify Program Administrator supervising the program at institutional levels, creating policies, procedures, and training I-9/E-Verify staff. Finally, she served on institutional strategic committees as subject matter expert for immigration integration at R1 institutions.

After 16 years in higher ed, (while juggling a part-time private practice), Dahlia returned to full-time private practice in May 2021. Her focus remains academic, academic medical centers, and F/J/M immigration, but extends to family and employment immigration and international tax issues that affect the academic community.

Dahlia’s professional memberships (past and present) include AILA, NAFSA, ABA, AHLA, CSIET, and NACUA.