Tuesday, September 21, 2010
5:00 pm to 5:45 pm
Sarkeys Law Center Room 103
Co-sponsored by: PCDC and Immigration Law Society
Immigration issues continue to dominate political and legislative fronts. Students interested in this area of practice will benefit from hearing from OCU LAW graduate, Martin Valko JD2002, who brings a special perspective based on his personal and professional journey.
An immigrant to this country, Mr. Valko is uniquely positioned to assist other foreign nationals as he has been through the entire immigration process himself. He has been a high school exchange student (J-1), college student (F-1) and an H-1B specialty occupation worker. He also experienced the infamous wait for visas at US consulates abroad so he understands the importance of zealous representation.
Martin has been representing and providing immigration counsel to clients from around the world – they are spouses, fiancees, parents and children of US citizens and lawful permanent residents. His employment-based clients are not only small businesses but also a publicly traded US company with over $8 billion in sales. Martin has represented and counseled Fortune 500 and other multi-national companies, MLB and NFL trading card manufacturer, medical doctors and nurses, World Champion Track & Field athletes and Olympians, a professional race car team and driver, and several NHL players.
Martin’s immigration practice includes labor certifications (PERM), EB-1, EB-2, EB-3 immigrant visas, H-1B specialty occupation and H-2 seasonal worker visas, L-1 visas for intracompany transferees, E treaty investor and trader visas, F and J visas for foreign and exchange students, and O and P visas for extraordinary ability aliens, athletes and performers. Moreover, he assists his clients with securing I-212 and I-601 waivers of inadmissibility before the US Citizenship and Immigration Services and US State Department (Consular practice), provides assistance with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nationals of designated countries, and represents clients in removal proceedings, and on appeals. Finally, Martin Valko is frequent speaker at educational and business seminars on various immigration law topics.
In 2008, the Texas Bar Journal published a story about Martin Valko’s representation of Slovak athletes which has even led him into the entertainment industry. Word got around in Slovakia about his quality of representation. So, when the Slovak pop/rock singer Pavol Habera and his band Team needed to clear up a copyright issue with Sony Pictures Entertainment regarding the use of part of its song in the 2005 horror film Hostel, Valko was the go-to guy. He was picked over an entertainment law firm that had represented Habera’s Victoria Secret model spouse. Valko obtained an out-of-court settlement and a written apology from the film’s director, Eli Roth.
Born in Levoca, Slovakia, Martin spent his childhood traveling and living in several countries thanks to his father’s career as a diplomat and Ambassador for the Slovak Republic (formerly Czechoslovakia). He is married to 5-time Olympian (2-time Olympic silver medalist) and World Champion swimmer Martina Moravcova, and they reside in Dallas, Texas, with the newborn daughter Karolina. Martin is fluent in Slovak, Czech, and English, and is conversant in Russian. In 2010, he was appointed Honorary Consul of the Slovak Republic to Texas.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: At the end of this session students will understand:
1) the scope of opportunities in Immigration Law
2) what types of experience during law school will prepare one to practice in this area
3) pros and cons of this area of practice