Who We Are

Malvern Burnett

Malvern Burnett is a 1986 graduate of Tulane Law School. He is a 1978 graduate of the University of Kentucky and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. After graduation from the University of Kentucky, Mr. Burnett served in the Philippines in the US Peace Corps. He speaks regularly on a variety of immigration law issues at continuing legal education seminars throughout the US. He has been a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association since 1988 and is admitted to practice law in Louisiana and Mississippi. He has maintained immigration law offices in both Louisiana and Mississippi since 1994. Mr. Burnett is BV Distinguished rated in 2007 to 2016, and has a very high peer review by Martindale-Hubbell.  The New Orleans Magazine rated him among the top immigration lawyers in the New Orleans area in 2007 to 2016. He was awarded the New Orleans Pro Bono Project Distinguished Service Award as Volunteer Lawyer. Mr. Burnett is fluent in Spanish. 

Maria S. Lau

Maria S. Lau has practiced exclusively immigration and nationality law for more than 15 years. She graduated from Louisiana State University, where she earned a B.A. degree in political science. She earned her J.D. degree from Loyola Law University New Orleans in 1995 and is licensed to practice law in the state of Louisiana. Ms. Lau is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. She speaks Spanish and Cantonese.

Helen M. Burnett

Helen M. Burnett is a native of New Orleans who was admitted to the Louisiana bar in October, 2017. She is a 2013 graduate of the University of Kentucky where she graduated magna cum laude with a degree in political science and a minor in history and Islamic studies. She graduated from Loyola Law University New Orleans in 2017 where she was a member of the Maritime Law Journal and a student practitioner in the immigration section of the Stuart H. Smith Law Clinic. During law school, she clerked at the Eastern District Federal Public Defender’s office in New Orleans and at the Law Firm of Gunty and McCarthy focusing on civil litigation in Chicago. Ms. Burnett is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Federal Bar Association.

Mrs. Smith is a native of Brownsville, Texas who joined the firm in 2007. She has a bachelor’s degree in Business Technology in Applied Science from The University of Texas at Brownsville. She focuses on family-based matters in our firm. She speaks Spanish.