Lauren Gibson has been practicing immigration law since 2000. The depth and breadth of her experience across multiple immigration areas allow her to approach each case with a holistic, strategic perspective tailored to the individual needs of her clients.
Ms. Gibson’s employment-based immigration practice encompasses temporary work visas and permanent residency matters. She represents companies ranging from small businesses to multinational and Fortune 500 companies in the biotechnology, artificial intelligence, information technology, engineering, architecture, financial services, and telecommunications industries, as well as universities and nonprofits. She also represents individuals seeking immigration benefits based on extraordinary ability, national interest waivers, and other categories.
Ms. Gibson works extensively with foreign students on pathways to short and long term status in the U.S. post-graduation and complex status issues. Her clients include F-1 students, J-1 exchange visitors, DACA recipients, individuals seeking or holding humanitarian status, and individuals who are undocumented.
In her family-based immigration practice, Ms. Gibson assists individuals and families with family-based petitions, and applications for permanent residence through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and U.S. consulates abroad, as well as naturalization applications.
Ms. Gibson works with the firm’s immigration litigation team on mandamus and other actions under the Administrative Procedure Act. She has experience handling asylum matters and previously served as a pro bono mentor for the asylum program of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.
Ms. Gibson received her J.D. cum laude from UC Law San Francisco in 1998. She holds a Bachelor’s degree (with honors) in Latin American Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She served as the Coordinating Attorney and Research Fellow for the Expedited Removal Study, funded by the Ford Foundation, from 1998-2000. From 2000 to 2017, she practiced immigration law at the preeminent law firm, Simmons & Ungar, where she also later served as Partner. She then served as Senior Counsel in the immigration department of a highly regarded mid-size immigration law firm before joining Van Der Hout in 2024.