In August 2025, McDermott Will & Emery and Schulte Roth & Zabel merged to form McDermott Will & Schulte, whose ‘fantastic’ business immigration practice delivers a broad range of services across immigration and nationality law. Under Joan-Elisse Carpentier’s leadership, the practice advises across all major visa and green card categories and brings deep expertise in complex immigration matters, including work for high-net-worth individuals, expatriation planning, and supporting US permanent residents relocating abroad. The New York and San Francisco-based Carpentier evaluates corporate immigration practices, develops policies and procedures for managing immigration matters, and assists with obtaining immigrant and nonimmigrant visas, citizenships, and expatriations. She also advises businesses on I-9 compliance programs and represents clients in government audits and settlement negotiations.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Accolades
Client satisfaction: Lawyer & team quality
Client satisfaction: Billing & efficiency
Client satisfaction: Sector knowledge
Client satisfaction: NPS ®
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'The service provided by MWS with respect to immigration practice is fantastic. They are responsive and pursue tirelessly the end results we are trying to achieve with respect to certain cases. We could not have achieved the results we did for our employees without their efforts.'
- 'Their effort and results are the best.'
- 'Joan-Elisse Carpentier at McDermott has represented us for many years and is our go-to immigration counsel. She is very knowledgeable, responsive, and cost-conscious. McDermott also offers good, free CLE for clients on a variety of topics.'
- 'Joan-Elisse Carpentier is knowledgeable, responsive, and cost-conscious. We regularly discuss which tasks will be performed by McDermott and which tasks will be performed in-house to manage costs.'
Key clients
- Wildlife Conservation Society
- Volunteer Lawyers for The Arts
Work highlights
Successfully secured a visa for a Canadian couple with successful business interests in Germany and Canada who wanted to expand into the US.
Advised a large beauty product manufacturing company headquartered in Illinois through a major I-9 compliance audit.
Advised a large healthcare institution on an aggressive I-9 audit.
Practice head
Joan-Elisse Carpentier