Dawn C. Sequeira

Born in Orange County, California, Dawn moved to the east coast where she obtained her B.S. Degree (Biology major and Criminal Justice minor) and J.D. from American University. The daughter of immigrants, Dawn grew up hearing stories of her parents’ struggles to achieve the American dream, which included overstaying a tourist visa and getting deported. It was actually their Beverly Hills immigration attorney (who overturned her parents’ deportation order and ultimately got them permanent residence through employment) who inspired Dawn to pursue a career as an immigration attorney.
After working as an attorney for two private law firms, Dawn decided to open her own practice because she wanted to represent clients the way she wanted. She didn’t want to be told how much time to spend working on a case or how long a phone call with a client should last. She wanted to represent a client her way.
In 2015, Dawn opened Legacy Immigration. At the time, Dawn knew that she didn’t want to accept every client that walked through the door. Considering the case may last for several months or longer, she wanted to have a good working relationship. Likewise, why would a client want to be tethered to an attorney who makes you feel uncomfortable or intimidates you? But Dawn knew that she could never please everyone; her priority was to please her clients and not let anyone interfere with her vigorous advocacy. Let’s be realistic, we are not everyone’s “cup of tea,” and that’s okay. Each client has to find the attorney who is the best fit for what s/he needs. The nature of the field is stressful enough, so why make it more stressful?
After all of these years, what has kept Dawn passionate about helping her clients is maintaining a good “work-life” balance, and more importantly, enjoying her daily interactions with each client and vice versa (because her client’s satisfaction is tantamount to her happiness and passion). To accomplish this, she decided that the business’ practice would be to accept a limited number of clients and provide them with the highest level of customer service. It is important for our clients to feel like they are the only one because at the end of the day, we truly try to treat every single client like a family member.
Being personable is very important to Dawn. She never wanted to become one of those attorneys with the attitude of: “I am the attorney. I know best. Do what I say.” At Legacy Immigration, we do not have a hierarchy. The client’s thoughts and opinions are factored into the preparation of the filing just as much as Dawn’s legal strategy. For the challenging cases, Dawn requests that the client be actively involved in the preparation of the filing, especially when working on affidavits. Often you will hear Dawn ask her client, “What do you think? Do you feel comfortable? Are you happy? What does your gut or your intuition tell you?” Doesn’t this make sense? I mean, who is more invested in the case than the client? That being said, shouldn’t the client have equal input into his or her case?
Dawn thrives when representing the most challenging cases, especially those cases that other attorneys have lost or declined to accept. She believes that the true value of hiring an attorney comes into play with difficult or challenging cases. Dawn’s clients have included individuals, small businesses, Fortune 500 companies, hospitals and the federal government.
Dawn has successfully represented individuals and corporations before U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, The Administrative Appeals Office, the U.S. Department of State, the Executive Office for Immigration Review, and the Board of Immigration Appeals. Dawn is admitted to the New York Bar (2008), the District of Columbia Bar (2009), and the U.S. Supreme Court (2016).